Great Britain concludes preparations for World Cup

Heidenheim, Germany

The Great Britain National Baseball Team finished its pre-World Cup warm-up series against the German National Team on the weekend of September 5-6.

Germany won all three games, but this did not reflect the quality of the British team or its goals ahead of the World Cup. On Thursday, Great Britain will begin its World Cup campaign against Japan and this was always the focus for both the coaches and the players. What mattered was not whether GB won or lost to the Germans, but rather that the pitchers were able to face quality opponents, hitters could get their timing down against international-level pitching and the coaching staff was able to try out different defensive configurations to see where players could potentially fit into a very competitive line-up.

In terms of what GB did achieve during the three-game series, Head Coach Stephan Rapaglia said: “We set ourselves the goals of preparing for the World Cup and to get better each day that we play together as a team. We have accomplished both of these goals and are continuing to improve ahead of the World Cup”.

This improvement could be seen across the three games, culminating in Game 3 in which GB led the Germans until the eighth inning before eventually 7-5.

Also of note is how well British leagues are represented on this year’s World Cup Roster.

Ryan Trask (Bracknell Blazers – 2009 British Champions) and Will Lintern (London Mets) are both currently on National Baseball League rosters. Brian Essery, Jason Holowaty and Alex Malihoudis all played with Lintern on the 2008 British Champion London Mets. Sam Whitehead (Croydon Pirates) and Aeden McQueary (Richmond Flames) each played one year in the British League while Raef Hobbs-Brown (Brighton Buccaneers) served for two seasons and Rich Klijn is a product of the Cartmel Valley Lions youth programme.

Great Britain play its first game of the 2009 Baseball World Cup on Thursday, September 10 against Japan. You can follow the GB National Team and all the other World Cup action at www.2009baseballworldcup.com and on this website.