Geelong trio step up to the plate at World Baseball Classic

GEELONG baseball is being represented not once but thrice on the international stage this week, with a trio part of the Australian team at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in Japan.

Starting on Wednesday this week, the 2023 WBC is essentially baseball’s version of the FIFA World Cup for soccer and sees teams around the world first secure their spots in qualifying matches, with the final 20 teams in the WBC itself split into four pools of five.

Geelong’s representatives in the Australian squad are infield player Liam Spence, his brother and pitching coach Josh Spence, and Baseball Australia director and coach Graeme Lloyd.

Local baseball fans may have spotted all three playing in winter with the Guild Baseball Club and in the summer competition with Geelong Baseball Club.

Speaking from Fuchu in Japan during one of the Australian team’s training sessions, Lloyd – a two-time World Series winner with the New York Yankees and a silver medallist at the Olympics – said the Australians were trying to get in as much training and warm-up games against local teams as possible before the WBC began.

“There’s a lot of heart to this team, there’s nothing like playing for your country, pulling on the green and gold – people say it over and over again, but it’s so true.

“We’re going to be here for over two weeks getting ready in preparation for the tournament – we would have liked to have got another week in, but to have this amount of time here is something special.”

Australia is in Pool B for the 2023 WBC, up against hosts Japan, South Korea, China and the Czech Republic.

Lloyd said Australia was lacking a little in star power, as three-time Major League All-Star player Liam Hendriks was unavailable after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but he did not rule out his team’s chances.

“The other teams have all their Major League players in them – the Americans probably have one of the best lineups they’ve ever had; Japan has also got the biggest player playing, Shohei Ohtani – so it’s a really tall order and a tough task, but hopefully we’ll be up to it.”