GB Baseball announces roster for U23 European Championship Qualifier 

by Tom Flack

 

Next week the U23 National Team will compete in the European Championship Qualifier in Bratislava, Slovakia. Up for grabs are two spots in next year’s U23 European Championship.

 

The U23s wrap up a busy tournament season for Great Britain Baseball. They follow the U12, U15 and U18 teams, all of whom participated in competition on the continent earlier this summer

 

Representing the country are 17 players; all but one of them have international experience at the youth and/or senior levels.

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KEY: Last name, first name, followed by club/team name

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• Armstrong, Luke - Cartmel Valley Lions

• Berger, Elliot - Zurich Barracudas

• Brereton, Richard - Emory University

• Brown, Conner - Herts Falcons

• Chandler, Rory - Birmingham Bandits

• Cornell, Conrad - Mercer University

• Diaz, Juan - Southampton Mustangs

• Dix, Jamie - London Mets

• Hall-Walsh, John - Sydney University

• Kirkpatrick, Paul - Stuttgart Reds

• Molina-Chocron, Sebastian - Essex Arrows

• Moran, Matthew - Herts Falcons

• Mosier, Fred - London Mets

• Thompson, Oliver - Essex Arrows

• Vinall, Callum - Southampton Mustangs

• Waddington, Matthew - Liverpool Trojans

• Zucker, William - Herts Falcons/Durham University

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Despite being a member of the programme for several years, Molina-Chocron makes his international debut. Kirkpatrick returns to GB duty for the first time since 2016’s World Baseball Classic Qualifier, where he was one of two collegiate athletes on the roster.

 

Also Making their first appearances at the U23 level are Hall-Walsh, Moran, Mosier and Zucker – all of whom have represented the country at the U18 level.

 

Returning to the fold are Armstrong, Berger, Brereton, Brown, Chandler, Cornell, Diaz, Dix, Thompson, Vinall and Waddington.

 

“The Performance strand of our Mission becomes all the more important at the U23 level,” said GB Head Coach Liam Carroll.

 

“I couldn’t be more excited about the young men who’ll represent our country with the goal of qualifying for the 2019 U23 Euros.

 

“This an exciting, dynamic group with a great deal of experience on the international  stage.”

 

At last year’s inaugural U23 European Championship, Great Britain finished in 7th place out of 16, narrowly missing out on the top six finish that was required to secure top-tier status for 2019. That squad kick-started their campaign with a combined no-hitter to beat Austria, before prevailing 13-12 over Poland in an 11 inning thriller. Narrow losses to Spain and Germany sandwiched a lopsided defeat to eventual champions Holland, before the team finished with a run-rule victory over Croatia.

 

The 10 teams who have entered the Qualifier have been drawn into two groups. Great Britain opens the tournament at 10am (UK time) on Monday 6th August against Serbia. After a day off, GB will face Poland, Slovakia and Russia. On the other side of the draw are Austria, Belarus, Croatia, Switzerland and Ukraine.

 

On Saturday the 11th, the group winners will crossover against the 2nd place teams in the all-important semi-finals, before a Qualifier champion is crowned on Sunday.

Live stats for all games will be available through CEB’s tournaments website. Should any video streams be announced, links will be provided through GB Baseball’s Facebook page and Twitter feed.

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