Samurai Japan will take an undefeated record and a lot of momentum into the final of the Asia Professional Baseball Championship on Sunday night.

Starting pitcher Takahisa Hayakawa threw five perfect innings, and Japan lit up the scoreboard in a 10-0 win over Australia at Tokyo Dome on Saturday.

“A lot of players got the chance to play today, and I think it was a great experience for them,” Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata said.

Japan will face the winner of Saturday night’s game between South Korea and Taiwan in the championship game on Sunday. The loser of that contest will face Australia for bronze.

Hayakawa, the winning pitcher, and Kojiro Yoshimura combined to hold the Australians without a runner for 6⅔ innings.

Australian designated hitter Rixon Wingrove drew a two-out walk against Shunsuke Sato in the seventh to break up Japan's bid for a combined perfect game. Clayton Campbell singled later in the frame to spoil the no-hitter.

That was the only thing that did not go right for Japan.

Japanese leadoff batter Kyota Fujiwara was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Kaito Kozono, who drove in the first run in the top of the first, finished with a pair of RBIs on a 2-for-4 day. Yuki Nomura was 2-for-2 and gave Japan a 10-run lead with a two-run double in the eighth.

Chusei Mannami and Kota Ishibashi were also credited with RBIs.

The game ended after the eighth inning according to tournament rules due to Japan holding a 10-run lead after the seventh inning.

“I think the lineup was in good shape,” Ibata said. “As I have been saying since our camp in Miyazaki, we are in good shape and have good momentum. So we want to continue to see that.”

The game was a matchup of former Chunichi Dragons in the dugout, with Ibata managing against former teammate Dave Nilsson.

"It was good to see him, it was good to compete against him," Nilsson said. “He has one up on me now, so looking forward to the next time we play so that I can try to get the victory next time.

“He's done a very good job with that team, prepared them very well."

Australia managed just one hit in the loss.

"Disappointed with the result," Nilsson said. "There were some things we didn't do very well. Japan pitched very well, they were too good for our hitters. But we had a lot of good things happen today.

“A lot of my young players were playing in a very tough environment, a very good environment. We'll learn a lot from that."

Teenage pitcher Jack Bushell, who took his final high school exam last week, got the start and allowed one run in two innings.

The 18-year-old was a shortstop a little over a year ago and turned to pitching after being noticed by scouts. He pitched for Australia at the U-18 World Cup but found himself in a much different environment against a U-24 Japan team in front of a crowd of 37,221 at Tokyo Dome.

“I think what he experienced today is really going to help him in the future,” Nilsson said. “I had a lot of choices of who I wanted to pitch today, but given his inexperience, and what he's shown in the last year, I wanted him to experience that routine of warming up and getting out there in front of the crowd. I think that was achieved today.

Bushell, who was charged with the loss, allowed one run in two innings.

“It was a really good experience for me,” he said.