Kingsley Collins

9 May 2018

Following another outstanding Australian Schools Baseball Championship that concluded in Adelaide last Saturday, a twenty-one player squad has been named to tour the west coast of United States during September and October of this year.

This will be the fifth occasion that a squad selected from the Schools Championship has embarked upon the tour, which will involve up to twenty games against junior colleges, four-year colleges and high school All-Star teams as organisers seek to replicate the life of a college/professional player while engaging in a range of tourist and cross-cultural experiences.

Congratulations to the twenty-one young baseball players who have been named to the squad! Australian Baseball Alumni will be aiming to follow their progress during what will be an exciting, memorable and potentially life-enhancing tour.       

Supported and endorsed by Baseball Australia, the tour is organised and will be delivered by the same officials who have accompanied squads on the four previous United States tours, which have been conducted every two years.

Aside from the broadening personal experiences that players inevitably derive, the tour has been extremely successful in offering competitive game time at international level, providing opportunities to be scouted at college and professional level, to build a base for potential future representation at national level and to develop as individuals by travelling together and becoming immersed in United States culture over three weeks.

From four previous tours, 63 out of a possible 75 players are now playing either college or pro ball in the U.S. In addition, the tour has proved to be a stepping stone to further national team representation with ten out of the thirteen eligible players from the 2014 tour participating in the Under 18 World Cup in 2015, and six out of ten from the 2016 tour selected for the 2017 Under 18 World Cup.

The squad (see below) will depart on 11 September and will return on 6 October 2018.

Best wishes to all in preparation for the tour, which for this group of emerging young athletes will indeed be the baseball trip of a lifetime.

Australian Baseball Alumni will seek to provide updates leading into, and during the United States tour.