Great Britain have just qualified for the second round of the Baseball World Cup in dramatic fashion.  GB’s 4-1 victory over Croatia earlier today ensured that Stephan Rapaglia’s men would finish third in Pool D behind Nicaragua (3-0) and Japan (1-2).  While the top two teams in each of the five pools qualified automatically for the second round, only four of the five third-placed teams progressed with them.

For most of the evening, it looked as though Britain would be the team to miss out.  Tomorrow would be filled with gloom at an early exit. That was before a five-run eighth inning by Venezuela against Germany turned everything on its head.  Now we’re playing Cuba at 19.00 BST in Haarlem, Netherlands.

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Great Britain defeated Croatia 4-1 in front of a partisan crowd in Zagreb today to give them hope of qualifying for the second round of the Baseball World Cup.  The victory means that GB will finish third in Pool D with a 1-2 record.  They now must wait on other results to see whether their twenty runs conceded is good enough to make them one of the four best third-placed finishers. 

It will make for a nervous few hours, yet that was the best outcome possible for Great Britain today after they lost their first two games, including a 10-0 defeat by Nicaragua yesterday.  A win was a must for GB and they earned it thanks to a two-run homer by catcher Chris Berset and some outstanding pitching by Brian Essery and Tom Boleska.  Continue reading →

GB are in the last chance saloon today at the 2009 Baseball World Cup.  Their game against Croatia is a ‘must-win’ affair for both teams, as both have lost their opening two games.  Whoever wins today’s encounter will stand a chance of qualifying for the second round as one of the best third-placed finishers.  

While GB’s comprehensive defeat to Nicaragua was a blow, the latter’s 8-4 win against Japan earlier today shows how good a team they are.  Let’s hope GB can put the losses behind them and get the win in Zagreb.  First pitch is 14.30 BST, not 15.30 as I stated yesterday.

Great Britain suffered a heavy 10-0 defeat to Nicaragua today in the Baseball World Cup.  The game was ended in the seventh inning on the ‘mercy killing’ rule when a solo home run by Sandor Mayorga, his second round-tripper of the game, moved his team ahead by the necessary ten runs. 

The defeat was Great Britain’s second in two days after they lost 9-7 to Japan in their tournament opener.  They will now enter tomorrow’s final first round game against the hosts Croatia needing a win and a bit of luck if they are to qualify for the second round as one of the best third-placed finishers and avoid an early exit from the event.  Continue reading →

Great Britain lost 9-7 to Japan in their opening game of the 2009 Baseball World Cup in Zagreb today, despite staging an incredible ninth-inning rally.  The Brits blasted five runs in the final frame, three of which coming on a Sam Wiley home run, to pull within two runs and had the bases loaded when Richard Klijn struck out to end the game. 

It was a valiant effort, one that creates frustration and hope in equal measure.  Kljin’s game-ending whiff was the third time that GB failed to take advantage of having runners on every base and the team also committed three errors in the field.  Sharper play in those situations could have seen Great Britain earn a stunning victory over their more-fancied rivals.  Instead, the team will rue the missed opportunities.

However, the fact that they had the chances to beat a good Japanese team should give them great confidence heading into tomorrow’s clash with Nicaragua.  Continue reading →

BSUK have confirmed that the official World Cup site has got our schedule wrong.  Britain play Japan at 9.30 BST today.  We play Nicaragua at 9.30 tomorrow and then Croatia at 15.00 on Saturday.

So, Great Britain’s World Cup begins in about ten minutes time!  Time enough to get a cup of tea before tuning in to the GameTracker on the World Cup website and logging on to Twitter.

Great Britain Baseball

Tomorrow (Thursday) is the day everyone involved in British baseball has been looking forward to for months.  Great Britain will begin their 2009 Baseball World Cup with the exciting prospect of a game against Japan. 

The only slight problem is that it’s not entirely clear when the game will begin.  GB-Japan was originally scheduled to start at 10.30 CET (9.30 BST) and at time of writing  it still states this on the Group D mini-site.  However, the official World Cup website schedule now lists the Croatia-Nicaragua game as starting at 12.30 (11.30 BST), with first pitch in our game at 16.30 (15.30 BST).  Presumably the official website is correct and we’ll provide an update here if we get any confirmation.  Continue reading →

Great Britain Baseball

The Great Britain baseball team has just published their roster for the upcoming World Cup.  It forms part of the brand new Great Britain Baseball website, which can be accessed via http://greatbritainbaseball.com/. 

The news item notes that “retirements and injuries have cost GB a few of its top players”, with the most obvious casualty being catcher Mike Nickeas.  However, there are still plenty of holdovers from the roster that came second in the European Baseball Championships two years ago and a very encouraging number of players who have competed in British league baseball in the recent past.

Great Britain are currently playing three warm-up games against Germany over this weekend (in Stuttgart this evening and in Heidenheim for the next two days).  Both teams will then head on to begin their World Cup campaigns next week, with the German team at home in the impressively renovated Regensburg Stadium and GB making their way to Zagreb, Croatia.

As well as the new GB Baseball website, a GB National Team fansite has also just been launched on Facebook.

Great Britain Baseball

The 2009 Baseball World Cup is nearly upon us and, after an exciting end to the British National Baseball League season, our attention now turns to Team GB’s international adventure.

Great Britain’s first game in Group D will be against Japan on 10 September in Zagreb, Croatia.  This exciting clash with the reigning World Baseball Classic champions is fast approaching, which means it’s a good time to provide an update on  funding issues surrounding the team, their preparations for the tournament and what TV coverage we can expect of the World Cup as a whole.  Continue reading →