A three-run homer by Joran Graham in the bottom of the fourth inning highlighted Canada's game against Denmark Wednesday at the ISF Junior Men's World Fast Pitch Championship.

The home run gave Canada a 7-0 lead, which brought the game to a close after the fifth inning as a result of the championship's mercy rule.

With the win, Canada improved its record to 8-1 and presently trails only Australia in the standings, which is at 8-0. Australia won its only game on Wednesday, beating Venezuela 11-4.

"To get the game over in five innings is huge because we don't have to play the extra two," said Graham. "It saves a lot of innings for pitchers."

Denmark played the Canadians tough, limiting them to just one run in the first inning and then shutting the team down entirely in the second.

However, in the third inning Canada proved once again why it is one of the premier teams at the championships. The Canadians scored three runs to increase their lead to 4-0, before adding three more thanks to Graham's shot over the centre field wall.

The victory over Denmark was Canada's second of the day. The Canucks' first match Wednesday was against Mexico, which has played very well, especially in the early going on the tournament.

In the game against Mexico, Team Canada tallied an incredible 15 runs and limited their opponents to just two.

Canada didn't waste any time gaining the lead in the contest, scoring five runs alone in the first inning. Three more runs were added in the third to give Canada an 8-0 advantage, which put the game out of reach for their opponents.

Once again, Canada showcased its offensive capabilities, bringing the overall run total to 15 after the team scored a staggering seven runs in the fourth inning.

The victory over Mexico and Denmark came after a very close game against Australia on Tuesday, which the Canadians lost by just two runs.

The final score of the game against Australia was 3-1 and went down to the final out in the seventh inning, with two men on base. In a highlight reel catch, Australia's centre fielder robbed Canada's Terrel Walker of what could have been the game-tying hit.

Canada's next game should be one of the squad's tougher challenges as well, when they go head-to-head against a very skilled and quick team from Japan.

The Japanese have traditionally always done well at the championships.

Among the country's highlights include winning gold at the inaugural tournament, which was held in 1981.

Before the 2008 championship began, Canada took part in a four-game exhibition series with Japan in Vancouver. The Canadians ended up winning the exhibition series, finishing with a record of 2-1-1.

Japan is currently in fourth place in the standings and with a win tonight might be able to overtake Team Canada for second in standings at the end of the round robin. Finishing in the top two positions has its advantages at the championship.

The two best teams will face each other on Saturday for a direct berth into the tournament's Grand Final, while the losing team must play against the winner of the battle between third and fourth place. The country that wins the third page playoff match advances to Sunday's Grand Final as well.

Graham said tonight's game against Japan is really important.

"It's huge," he said. "I think this is the biggest game of our lives out of all of us and we are pumped for it. We can't wait to play them."

He said he was glad about the teams playing each other in the exhibition series.

"We have seen a lot of their pitchers and going into the game tomorrow, we have a pretty good idea of the kind of game that they play," he Graham said. "If we just go out and hit the ball and our pitchers do their thing on the mound we will be fine."

Tom Doucette,Team Canada's head coach, said he is looking forward to playing Japan tonight.

"They are a great international program and it should be a terrific game."

He said it's an important game for Canada, which has the goal of finishing in the top two at the championship.

"Let's put it if you were going to give it four stars out of four stars, it should get four stars."

Doucette said he is happy with the way Team Canada is playing at the tournament.

"I thought the Australian game was just a hit away from being equal," he said.

"We had runners in scoring position, so we could very easily be 9-0, but am I pleased?

Absolutely. We are trying to build on our performance every day, get better every day. We know that when we started the staging event in Vancouver that it was going to be a marathon."