British Juniors with Baseball Trip to South Africa

Posted on by philipp

by British Baseball Federation, www.britishbaseball.org

The Great Britain Junior National Baseball Team is making history by being the first GB team to tour South Africa. The team will play games from the 19- 27 August in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, including a five game series against the South African Junior National team.

The team is led by Head Coach Will Lintern, General Manager Phil Edmonds and first year Assistant Coach Jarrod Pretorius, who himself is a former South African National team player and had this to say about the tour: “Very exciting times ahead; this is a great opportunity and it is always nice to come back home and coach against the team I once played for. It will be great to see not only where the South African programme is now, but it will be even better to see how our boys measure up against the SA team.”

Trip of a lifetime

While there is plenty of baseball to played, it was the goal of both the British and South African Baseball Federations to ensure that Team GB had as much of a cultural experience as possible, including local tourism and helping with baseball clinics where possible.

Schedule

Date Location Activity Game
Monday, 19 August Cape Town Indoor workout v Western Province All-Star Team
Tuesday, 20 August Boland Local player clinic v Boland All-Star Team
Wednesday, 21 August Durban – v KZN Provincial All-Star Team
Thursday, 22 August Durban – v KZN Provincial All-Star Team
Friday, 23 August Johannesburg – v South African Junior National Team – Game 1 (Night Game)
Saturday, 24 August Johannesburg – v South African Junior National Team – Game 2
v South African Junior National Team – Game 3
Sunday, 25 August Johannesburg – v South African Junior National Team – Game 4
v v South African Junior National Team – Game 5
Monday, 26 August Johannesburg Safari v Eastern Province High Performance Centre/Academy
Tuesday, 27 August Johannesburg Visit to Alex township v Alex/Gauteng All-Star team

Speaking about the trip, Head Coach Will Lintern said, “This is a fantastic opportunity for all the players.  Those who will be with the Juniors at next summer’s European Qualifier and the graduating players looking to make an impact on the Senior National Team next year will get the competition they need to develop as baseball players.  In addition to this they will get a chance to see a fantastic part of the world and experience a culture that will hopefully shape their vision of the world as they move into adulthood.  This truly is the trip of a lifetime.”

Coach Lintern, who was born in South Africa, had these thoughts on returning to his birthplace: “I am very excited about returning to South Africa.  It’s a shame that we can’t make it to Port Elizabeth where I was born, but it’s wonderful to finally be back.  Baseball has kept me busy over the last 20 plus years and GB commitments have meant I haven’t had the opportunity to return to South Africa, so it’s wonderful that baseball has now created that opportunity.”

Roster

Name
#
Club
Position
George Blaskett 4 Hove Tuesday P / OF
Juan Diaz 13 London Mets INF / P
Jacob Dean 3 Bracknell Blazers Utility / P
Mike Dixon 20 Halton Jaguars P/ INF
Jordan Edmonds 15 Bracknell Blazers P / Utility
Rory Flood 25 London Mets P / OF
Jamie Gregory 27 Essex Arrows INF / P
Harry Pickup 2 Cartmel Valley Lions P / OF
Dexter Stewart 7 Bracknell Blazers C
Zach Stroman 32 London Mets INF / P
Matt Tarrant 18 London Mets P / OF
Joe Taylor 14 Bracknell Blazers INF / P
Callum Vinall 8 Bracknell Blazers C / P
Aaron Webster 21 Harlow Nationals OF

Staff

Name
#
Club
Role
Will Lintern 28 Harlow Nationals Head Coach
Jarrod Pretorius 5 Harlow Nationals Assistant Coach
Phil Edmonds 19 Horsham Hornets General Manager

Follow the GB Juniors

We will provide reports on the GB Juniors tour of South Africa on this website but you can also receive regular updates via Twitter by following Head Coach Will Lintern (@Will_Lintern) and Great Britain Baseball (@GB_Baseball)