BASEBALL WORLD CUP QUICK NOTES

Australia 17 Czech Republic 4…the Aussies opened the 2009 World Cup by pounding out four home runs and 20 hits in a win in Prague…1B Stefan Welch went 4-6, while OF Tim Kennelly went 3-5 with a pair of home runs and four RBI and DH Andrew Graham went 3-6…ten Aussies had at least one hit…Martin Schneider went 2-4 with a homerun for the host Czechs…Australia used eight different pitchers in the game,

Spain 15 South Africa 0 (6 innings)…the host Spaniards pounded out 16 hits in just six innings to post the first shutout of the tournament…catcher Dewis Navarro went 3-4 with 4 RBI and CF Daniel Figueroa went 3-4 for Spain…two pitchers, Eric Gonzales (5 inn.) and Remigio Leal combined on a two hitter.

Netherlands Antilles 10 Sweden 8…The game of the day took place in Sundyberg, where over 1,200 fans almost saw Sweden rally in the bottom of the ninth against NA…The Netherlands Antilles broke the game open with six unearned runs in the top of the ninth, four on Jair Joseph’s Grand Slam, to give them a 10-2 lead…however 2B Adam Sorgi started a Sweden rally with the third of his three hits, and catcher Bjorn Johannssen brought the Swedes within two with his third hit, a three run homer with two outs to narrow the gap…however Ludwin Obispo got pinch hitter Per Lindgren to hit into a double play and then ended the rally by getting Tony Dermendziev to line to center to end the game.

Germany 14 China 1 (7 innings)…A crowd of over 5,000 saw the host Germans defeat China in their opener…Germany broke the game open with a seven run third inning…3b Dominik Wulf went five for five with a double, homer and five RBI for Germany.

NEWS AND NOTES

WORLD CUP ON THE WEB: The World Cup website is providing live streaming of select games and live scoring of all the games in the tournament. In addition, Thursday’s Italy-Netherlands pre-World Cup tune up (Italy and the Netherlands had byes in round one) on www.raisport.rai.it and will be seen live on Rai Sport Piu.

SWEDEN OPENS NEW STADIUM: Sweden opened their new field in Nyköping over the past weekend, dropping a pair of exhibition games to Korea…the state of the art facility in Sundyberg, just outside Stockholm, is expecting a near capacity crowd for Saturday’s matchup between Sweden and Canada.

MINNESOTA TWINS HAVE TEN IN THE CUP: The amount of players under professional contracts playing in the Baseball World Cup is well over 100, a récord for the World Cup, but the Major League Organization with the most players is the Minnesota Twins, who have ten players playing in the event…the Pittsburgh Pirates have six prospects playing in the classic.

THE AUSSIE TWINS: Of the 10 Twins-affiliated players in the event, six are with Australia…the latest addition to the A-Roos was Grafton, Australia teenager Justin Linger, who turned 19 Monday when he received the call to replace Justin Huber who was called up to the Twins...pitcher Bradley Tippett was an All-Star selection in the Appalachian League after going 8-3 for Elizabethton in the Twins minor league system as well...four Aussies played together in Beloit, WI at the Class A level as well.

USA LOOKS FOR TITLE DEFENSE: The United States snapped Cuba’s nine straight World Cup titles in 2007, taking the Gold Medal game from Cuba 6-2…they will begin their title defense against Venezuela Thursday before playing host Germany on Friday, September 11, in a game that will be televised live in the United States on the MLB Network at 1:00 EDT…the 2007 USA team, which featured future MLB players Evan Longoria, Andy LaRoche and Jayson Nix (who won MVP), will look to a current team which features seven first round draft picks, including Pittsburgh Pirates draftee Pedro Alzarez, who hit a combined .288 with 27 HR and 95 RBI in his just-completed minor league season.

GERMANY READY FOR REGENSBURG TEST: Over 25,000 people are expected to attend the first round games in Regensburg, Germany this week, and the Germans readied for the first round two China and the USA by sweeping a series from Great Britain over the weekend…the Germans have a number of players currently making their way up the professional ranks and will be led by catcher Kai Gronauer, who hit .243 with 6 HR 23 RBI for New York Mets affiliate Savannah this past year…Gronauer was slowed by a thumb injury late in the year but played in Thursday’s opener.





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