Great Britain holds World #1 to a close game at Baseball World Cup

Cuba 6, Great Britain 0
Haarlem, Netherlands, September 13

Image from 2009baseballworldcup.com

The Great Britain baseball team took on the world-ranked #1 Cubans tonight and held them to a three-run deficit until the bottom of the eighth inning, eventually losing 6-0. Despite defeat, this is a highly respectable result for Britain, having qualified for its first World Cup since 1938, against a nation that has won this event 25 times in its illustrious baseball history.

It is all the more noteworthy given that the GB squad had to make arrangements at late notice last night to travel to Holland from its first-round base of Zagreb, leaving on a flight early this morning and then having to prepare for an encounter against the mighty islanders the same evening. Great Britain’s place in the second round had not been confirmed until Germany’s defeat to Venezuela in the final first-round game was finalised last night. General Manager Alan Smith then had to organise the trip and round up the troops in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Cubans jump out to early lead

Head Coach, Stephan Rapaglia, went predominantly with the same lineup which began Saturday’s victory over the Croatians except that Tom Stack-Babich was preferred over Bradley Marcelino in centrefield and Jason Holowaty – a former British Championship winner with the London Mets and Richmond Flames – got the nod at second base.

Stephen Spragg made his first start of the campaign on the mound for GB but was tested early as Yoennis Cespedes and Ariel Pestano hit home runs in the bottom of the second to bring in a total of three runs for the Cubans. Spragg was replaced by leftie Paul Waterman after three innings but this may have been a planned approach by Rapaglia to change up the pitching early on to prevent the Cuban hitters settling down – much like he tried against the Japanese. Spragg gave up five hits over three innings with two strikeouts.

Whether it was planned or not, the change had a positive effect. Waterman pitched four shutout innings giving up only one hit and kept the game a much closer affair than spectators would have expected beforehand. Unfortunately for GB, Cuban starter Freddy Alvarez pitched a gem of his own. He threw a complete game shutout, striking out nine. Only singles from catcher Chris Berset and Holowaty prevented Alvarez posting a no-hitter.

Kent’s finest face Cubanos

In the eighth inning, two products of Kent’s legendary Tonbridge Bobcats junior programme found themselves in a game against the World #1 at the Baseball World Cup. London Mets’ catcher Will Lintern took over from Chris Berset behind the plate while his former teammate at London and Brighton Buccaneers, Alex Malihoudis, came in at centrefield.

The Cubans finally broke the game open in the top of the eighth, loading the bases against Waterman with one out. Craig Pycock took the hill in relief but began by walking in a run before the top of Cuba’s lineup came to the plate. Hector Olivera hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score another which was followed by an RBI-single from Michel Enriquez to give Cuba a 6-0 lead which was made final when pinch hitter Tim Collins grounded out for the third out in the top of the ninth.

Box score and play-by-play

Watch video highlights from the game on YouTube

Television appearance

As with the 9-7 loss to Japan in the opening game of the first round, Great Britain’s players should take pride from holding another of the world’s baseball powerhouses to a close scoreline. The remainder of Britain’s seven games this week don’t present particularly easier opposition, starting on Monday (Sept 14) with the World #2 South Korea, winners of last summer’s Olympic gold medal. However, the Koreans have wobbled in their last two games, unexpectedly losing to both Netherlands teams – of the Antilles and the Dutch varieties. If Britain puts pressure on the South Koreans early in the game it might yet claim a big scalp in the competition.

South Korea v Great Britain is at 13:00 CET (12:00 BST) in Amsterdam on Monday and is scheduled to be televised on Eurosport 2.

Follow GB

As well as reports on this site and the official Baseball World Cup site, where possible we’ll try to provide in-game updates via BaseballSoftballUK’s Twitter feed.

Television coverage

According to the latest information, three of Britain’s games will be televised on British Eurosport 2 – those against South Korea, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico. Games against the Netherlands and Spain are tentatively listed for televising as well. The schedule may be subject to change.

British Eurosport is available on satellite and cable TV. To find out how to get it, visit eurosport.com. The channel can also be watched via online streaming – for more information visit the Eurosport Player webpage.

Full schedule and television listings available at the official Baseball World Cup website.

The BBF, BSUK and Great Britain Baseball take no responsibility for the content of external internet sites.