Great Britain qualifies for the second round of the Baseball World Cup

Zagreb, Croatia, September 12

Germany’s 12-1 defeat to Venezuela this evening sent Great Britain through to the second round of the Baseball World Cup as the final qualifier from the first round.

Following the 4-1 victory over Croatia earlier today, Britain was left waiting to see how things developed in the other groups to see whether it would sneak a second round berth as one of the four best third-placed teams. Throughout the GB contingent at the teams’ hotel there were several laptop computers open this evening as squad members congregated around them to view live updates from the Germany-Venezuela game in Group E. GB required the Germans to lose and concede at least 11 runs (you can read more detail about why in this article). That would leave Germany below Britain in the rankings of third-placed teams and so in the elimination spot. The Germans would have an equal win-loss record to GB but have conceded more runs than GB’s 20 in first round games.

Venezuela had built a 6-1 lead early on but not been able to add to it after six innings. However, in the seventh the South Americans loaded the bases with no outs and slowly the runs trickled in to send the total past the 11 mark. The game ended on the mercy rule after eight innings. But the loudest celebrations were not to be heard in the stadium in Regensburg; rather the hotel lobby in Zagreb as Britain’s players, staff and supporters realised that rather than being down and out, they’ll be meeting the world-ranked #1 Cuba in Haarlem at 8pm CET on Sunday.

Though it required some good fortune from elsewhere, it also emphasised the importance of GB restricting the Croatians to the one run today in a solid performance. To make the second round represents another major achievement for Head Coach Stephan Rapaglia’s squad in Great Britain’s first appearance in the World Cup since the inaugural competition in 1938. It builds further on the silver medal earned in the 2007 European Championship, Britain’s highest finish in the modern era.

Great Britain is one of only two European nations to progress to the second stage, although GB and Spain will now be joined by second-round hosts Italy and the Netherlands. Britain will get the opportunity to play at least seven more games in Group F – taking place in Haarlem, Rotterdam and Amsterdam – and will be mixing with some of the world’s top baseball nations including Cuba, Puerto Rico, South Korea and Venezuela. Added to that should be increased exposure for Britain’s baseball team through European and world media coverage of the event plus several scheduled appearances on television.

Group F

On Sunday, September 13, Great Britain (world-ranked #25) begins seven games in an eight-team group in Holland:

Sept 13 – Cuba (ranked #1, 25-time World Cup winners)
Sept 14 – South Korea (#2, 2008 Olympic Champions)
Sept 15 – Rest Day
Sept 16 – Nicaragua (#14)
Sept 17 – Puerto Rico (#10)
Sept 18 – Netherlands (#6, 2007 European Champions)
Sept 19 – Spain (#18)
Sept 20 – Venezuela (#9, 3rd in 2009 MLB World Baseball Classic)

Each team plays each other and the top four from this group and Group G will progress to the semi-final and final rounds. Great Britain will find tough opposition in all of those countries – many of which it will be meeting for the first time in its history – and will begin every game as the underdog. It will not be expected to be near the top half of Group F come Sept 20. However, Rapaglia’s squad has nothing to lose at this stage and much to gain from the experiences and the opportunity to put Great Britain’s name on the world baseball map.

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.

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.

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