Right before the France International Baseball Tournament “Yoshida Challenge”, which will serve as preparation tournament for the European Championship, Belgium has revealed its roster. Head coach Sven Hendrickx has invited 24 players for the two tournaments.
The pitching staff is led by Thomas de Wolf, Cedric Desmedt and Kenny van den Branden. De Wolf, Belgium’s former Minor Leaguer coming from a MVP like season with the Stuttgart Reds in Germany, also will be used on offense. Benjamin Dille (DOOR Neptunus), Dennis Ribbens and Steven de Lannoy will be also key figures at the plate.
Hendrickx is going to be supported by Kevin Peeters, Filip van der Meiren, Patrick Renard and Kevin Knollenburg on the coaching staff.
In Senart Belgium is going to face France, the Netherlands and a team from Japan in the Yoshida Challenge from September 4 to 9. Afterwards they travel to Regensburg for the first round, taking on Germany, Italy, Great Britain, France and Sweden in the first round of the European Championship (September 12 to 21).
Roster:
