TOKYO (AP) — National team baseball manager Hirokazu Ibata has said he will step down following Japan’s loss to Venezuela 8-5 in Miami in the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic.

The newspaper Sports Hochi reported Ibata saying it was his “intention to resign.”

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Japan is the defending champion and had won the event three times. It marked Japan’s first failure to reach the WBC semifinals despite a team stacked with major league talent including Shohei Ohtani.

“The result is everything,” Sports Hochi reported Ibata saying. “Although we lost this time, I hope Japan will grow stronger and win next time.”

Japan was 4-0 in play in Tokyo in Pool C — victories over Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and the Czech Republic — before being eliminated by Venezuela in the loss in Miami.

The MLB players on the Japan team included: Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Seiya Suzuki, Yusei Kikuchi, Masataka Yoshida, Muneyuki Murakami, Kazuma Okamoto and Tomoyuki Sogano.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb