Australia national baseball team

Infobox National baseball team

Name = Australian Baseball Team
Country = flag|Australia
Federation = Australian Baseball Federation
Confederation = Baseball Confederation of Oceania
Manager =
Olympic apps = 3
Olympic first = 1996
Olympic best = 2nd
WBC apps = 1
WBC first = 2006
WBC best = 13th
WC apps = 8
WC first = 1978
WC best = 5th
IC apps = 6
IC first = 1981
IC best = 1st
AG apps =
AG first =
AG best =
OC apps =
OC first =
OC best = 1The Australian baseball team is the national team of Australia. It has participated in the Summer Olympic Games in 1996, 2000 and 2004, but failed to qualify for 2008 - likely to be the last time baseball will be contested at the Olympics. The team sent to the 2006 World Baseball Classic included Australian players from Major League Baseball.

The team is controlled by the Australian Baseball Federation, which is represented in the Baseball Confederation of Oceania. The team has competed in the Asian Baseball Championship in previous years. Australia is due to compete in the 2009 World Baseball Classic in March, and the 2009 Baseball World Cup in September.

World Baseball Classic

Australia competed in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006, finishing 13th. Along with the other teams from the 2006 tournament, Australia were invited to compete in the second World Baseball Classic, scheduled for 2009.cite web | title=Transcript of WBC Announcement | publisher=Major League Baseball | date=2008-03-24 | url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20080324&content_id=2454531&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb | accessdate=2008-09-27]

2006 WBC

Prior to formally starting their campaign, Australia played an exhibition game against a Boston Red Sox squad at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Florida,cite web | title=WBC 2006 Exhibition Game Box Score | publisher=Australian Baseball Federation | date=2006-03-05 | url=http://www.baseball.com.au/default.asp?Page=23221&MenuID=National%5FTeams%2F86%2F0%2C2006%5FWorld%5FBaseball%5FClassic%2F365%2F22702%2CRESULTS%2F13623%2F0%2CAustralian%5FGames%5FResults%5Fand%5FStatistics%2F13659%2F0 | accessdate=2008-09-28] which they lost. This was also the site of their training camp.cite web | title=WBC 2006 Training Camps | publisher=Major League Baseball | date=2006 | url=http://ww2.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/schedule/index.jsp?mc=training&sid=wbc | accessdate=2008-09-28]

Australia competed in Pool D - along with Dominican Republic, Italy and Venezuela - in the first round at Cracker Jack Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Having failed to win any of their round-robin pool games, they finished last in their pool, and were eliminated with Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Italy, Netherlands, Panama and South Africa. The eventual champions were Japan.cite web | title = WBC 2006 Standings | publisher = Major League Baseball | date = 2006-03-20 | url = http://ww2.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_sta&lid=160&sid=wbc | accessdate = 2008-09-27]

2000 Sydney Olympics

Placings

Olympic Games
* 1992 : did not qualify
* 1996 : 7th
* 2000 : 7th
* 2nd
* 2008 : did not qualify

World Baseball Classic
* 2006 : 13th

Baseball World Cup

ee also

*Australian Baseball Federation
*World Baseball Classic
*Summer Olympic Games

References

External Links

* [http://www.baseball.com.au Australian Baseball Federation]
* [http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com World Baseball Classic]
* [http://www.olympic.org International Olympic Committee]