The national team on March 9 celebrates its playoff-clinching win over Australia in their final Group C game of the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome. (Yonhap News)

By Kim Hyelin

Korea has advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic for the first time in 17 years.

Led by manager Ryu Ji-hyun, the team beat Australia, 7-2, in their fourth and final round-robin game of Group C at Tokyo Dome.

Though tied with Taiwan and Australia with a 2-2 record, Korea advanced to the quarterfinals as runner-up of their group behind Japan (3-0) due to a lower runs allowed average.

Korea won the tiebreaker with an average of 0.1228, lower than Taiwan and Australia's 0.1296, and moved on to the knockout round in the U.S.

This broke a drought for Korea in the WBC's second round since 2009, when it finished as runner-up.

In Miami on March 13, Korea will face the winner of Group D, either the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, both of which were 3-0 as of March 10.

Miami and Houston will host the quarterfinals and Miami the semifinals and final.

kimhyelin211@korea.kr