News

The Team Australia line-up to take on World Champions Japan in a two-game series at the Sapporo Dome on the 9th and 10th of November 2022 has been announced.

David Nilsson’s men return to the world stage with an action-packed line-up filled with international and ABL experience.

Leading the team are co-captains Tim Atherton and Tim Kennelly, with five players each from the Brisbane Bandits, Adelaide Giants and the Perth Heat, eight from the Melbourne Aces ABL champion team, the Sydney Blue Sox with three players and Robbie Perkins from Canberra Cavalry. Kyle Glogoski from Auckland Tuatara will make his debut for the team to round out a Team Australia side loaded with talent and experience.

The roster features some of Australia’s up and coming professional players who will debut for the Men’s team. Cameron Gibbens, Jarryd Dale, Rixon Wingrove and Solomon Maguire will come off professional seasons in the USA to debut for the Senior Men’s team.

It has been a long three-year absence of international baseball for our Men’s Team Australia side to which our representatives will be looking to pick up where they left off from the Premier12.

Baseball Australia CEO Glenn Williams, believes the team has what it takes to compete against the world number 1’s.

“It will be great to see this team compete against the Olympic Gold Medallists and current World Champions; it has been a while since they’ve had the chance to compete on the world stage and it will be a great content and the perfect start to a big six months for Team Australia with the WBC right around the corner.”

It will be the first senior international game for Samurai Japan since the Olympics where they claimed gold against the best in the world.

The two-game series will take place before the Australian Baseball League (ABL) season with ABL players set to join their teams for the commencement of the Opening Round.

Stay across Team Australia and Baseball.com.au social media for all the latest team and where to watch information.

Baseball Australia is proud to announce the seven young men that will represent us as part of the MLB World Select Team at the upcoming Arizona Fall Classic in Phoenix, AZ.

Max Stagg – SA

Nick Bertucci – VIC

Adam Bates – NSW

Jayden Kim – VIC

Liam Grant – NSW

Josh Nati – NSW

Alistair Tanner – SA

Stagg, Bertucci, Bates and Kim were all part of the Team Australia side that played in the U18 World Cup earlier this month in Florida. Team Australia concluded their campaign with a 7-2 victory over South Africa to finish ninth.

The group has been joined by Liam Grant, Josh Nati and Alistair Tanner who flew from Australia this week. Grant, Nati and Tanner participated at the U-16 National Championships in Redcliffe this year and were selected out of that event to join the older players.

National Player Development Manager, Andrew Riddell was at the U-18 tournament and has remained with the group ahead of the upcoming competition.

“It’s been an exciting and action-packed month, with the under 18’s taking on the best in the world and growing as a group, to now having these seven athletes compete at another exceptional level is a credit to the guys, their families and the opportunity they have been provided in Australia.”

“To travel, experience what international baseball is like and then to put on the MLB logo and represent a world selected team is amazing for our young players and will help them continue to develop as well as showing them how much work needs to be done to compete at the very top.”

One of the main purposes of the MLB World Select Team is to showcase members of MLB’s international academies, with players from eleven countries including Australia, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, France and Brazil to be exposed to college/professional level baseball.

The team will be playing multiple games in Arizona in the leadup to the Arizona Fall Classic, which begins on the 29^th of September.

Make sure you keep up with the progress of the Australians in the MLB World Select Team via the Team Australia Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Team Australia have concluded their XXX World Cup campaign with a 7-2 victory over South Africa to finish ninth.  Touching down in Florida on 28^th of August, the touring team of over 45 players and coaches saw their first taste of international competition since 2019.

Bringing together some of Australia’s best underage players, the tour saw Team Australia preparing for the World Cup at The Perfect Game’s Fort Myers facility, which included lead up games against Chinese Taipei, Canada and the USA.

The WBSC’s 30th U-18 World Championship was contested over 50 games, with the world’s best young baseball prospects and teams battling it out over nine days of competition at LECOM Park and Ed Smith Stadium.

Group A featured host No. 5 USA, No. 3 Korea, No. 8 Netherlands, No. 12 Canada, No. 25 Brazil and No. 26 South Africa.

Group B featured world No. 1 Japan, No. 2 Chinese Taipei, No. 4 Mexico, No. 10 Australia, No. 13 Panama and No. 17 Italy.

The top three teams from Group A played the top three teams from Group B in the Super Round, with the top two teams meeting ‘For the Title of World Champion’ which was awarded to Team USA.

In Team Australia’s final game four Australian pitchers combined to pitch a one-hitter in their last game at the XXX WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup.

World No. 10 Australia closed their participation at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup with a 7-2 victory over South Africa, ranked 26th in the world, in the last game played at LECOM Park.

Travelling across the world to compete against the best in the World was an exciting experience for the athletes.

Baseball Australia’s GM of Performance Pathways & Player Development Michael Crooks put the tour into perspective.

“The opportunity for our talented young players to recommence international competition is critical for our athletes. With the majority of two years lost to lockdown and weather events in Australia, our players have not been able to play in any higher-level tournaments since January 2020. “

“While we have done everything in our power to simulate higher level events locally, there is nothing like international competition, and all of our touring party, players and coaches, will be better off for the experiences in August and September. We look forward to this tour providing the foundation for our player’s growth into the future.”

In earlier matches Australia kicked off their campaign with a loss to Mexico (9-5) Chinese Taipei (13-2) and Japan (0-10) before securing their first win again Italy (5-4) in Game 4. With the game ties at two, Australia scored three in the top of the seventh and then withstood Italy’s last attack to clinch the win.

On day five Team Australia has a narrow loss to Panama (2-3) and Canada held on in a (7-6) thriller to open Placement Round.

Brazil came within one strike from a win that would have meant a seventh-place finish with one game to play in the Placement Round, but Team Australia tied the game in the seventh with their first hit and went on to win (5-4) in the ninth.

Team Australia now returns to home to the 2023 WBSC U-18 Qualifier in December and the Australian Youth Championships returning to their regular scheduling in January.

Crooks said, “We have a very exciting summer of baseball planned for our performance pathways players. The return of the AYC’s under the new format trialled at the U16’s last July is exciting, but in addition, we have additional competition content that will tie into the event with our overseas partners that we will be announcing soon”

“Equally, the ability for the U-18 age group to get a taste of more international competition within the World Cup Qualifier in December will round out a huge summer for our players. We look forward to sharing the details of that event once they are finalised.”

Looking ahead the U-23 team begins their World Cup campaign on the 14^th of October. To keep up with all the action head to Team Australia’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

Team Australia is set to take on World Champions Japan in a two-game series at the Sapporo Dome on the 9th and 10th of November 2022.

It has been a long three-year absence of international baseball for our Men’s Team Australia side to which our representatives will be looking to pick up where they left off from the Premier 12s.

It will be the first senior international game for Team Japan since the Olympics where they claimed gold against the best in the world.

The two-game series will take place before the Australian Baseball League (ABL) season with ABL players set to join their teams for the commencement of the Opening Round.

These games will be a preview of how Team Australia will line up for the upcoming World Baseball Classic, which is set to launch on March 8th 2023.

Team Australian Manager David Nilsson is thrilled to be back in the green and gold and ready to lead the team into a new season of international baseball.

“It is always and honour and very challenging to play against Team Japan and this will be a great opportunity to bring new players into the team and start our preparation for the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC).”

Baseball Australia CEO Glenn Williams is thrilled to be able to bring international baseball to the fans at home and abroad.

“ Our relationship with the NPB and Samurai Japan is strong, and we’ve worked closely for quite a while to secure this series. It will be amazing to be in Sapporo in November competing against the number 1 team in the world.”

“ This series, followed by ABL season 22/23 and then the WBC in March 2023, promises to be an actioned packed period of time for baseball fans.”

The full team roster, details on how to watch and other information about the series in Japan will be released in the lead-up to the series.