Japan beat Venezuela 6-0 today to progress to the semi-finals of the WBSC Men's Softball World Championship in Czech Republic ©WBSC

Japan beat Venezuela 6-0 today to progress to the semi-finals of the World Baseball Softball Confederation Men's Softball World Championship in Czech Republic.

Two-way player Hikaru Matsuda was particularly impressive as he led the Japanese to a convincing win at Svoboda Ballpark in Prague.

Victory for the Asian champions comes after they went unbeaten in Group A with seven wins out of seven.

Awaiting them in the last four tomorrow are defending champions New Zealand, who battled back from 4-1 down to defeat rivals Australia 7-4 today.

The teams faced each other in the opening round with Japan prevailing 5-1. 

Argentina booked their place in the semi-finals with a 9-0 win over the United States ©WBSC
Argentina booked their place in the semi-finals with a 9-0 win over the United States ©WBSC

The other semi-final pits Argentina against Canada after both teams came through their last-eight ties today.

A strong offensive performance paved the way for Argentina's 9-0 win over the United States in five innings.

Canada, meanwhile, overcame hosts Czech Republic 4-0.

In the battle between the two teams that just missed out on the quarter-finals, Denmark claimed a 3-0 victory over Cuba to secure a ninth-place finish.

Today's action also saw Mexico beat South Africa 7-0 in the 11th-place playoff, the Netherlands defeat Botswana 6-5 in the 13th-place playoff and Singapore defeat the Philippines 4-3 in the 15th-place play-off.