Sydney, AUÂ - - Australia tops Guam, New Zealand to win Oceania Youth Championship and qualify for WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2017
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 20 January 2017Â
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Australia tops Guam, New Zealand to win Oceania Youth Championship and qualify for WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2017Â
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SYDNEY -- Host Australia went undefeated against Guam and New Zealand to capture the U-18 Oceania Baseball Championship today at the Blacktown International Sportspark.
As the Oceania champion, Australia will represent the continent and compete For the Title of World Champion at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup® 2017 in Thunder Bay, Canada, this September.
New Zealand earned 2nd Place and Guam took 3rd Place in the continental championship, which opened on Wednesday, 18 January.
The Australian U-18 National Team defeated both Guam and New Zealand twice, including a 6-0 win over New Zealand today, to finish the opening round undefeated and automatically be declared the winner. New Zealand and Guam split their two head-to-head matches.
The success in Sydney follows Australia's gold medal at the U-12 Oceania Baseball Championship in Hagatna, Guam, last Sunday.
Australian Baseball to move into world's Top 10
When the next WBSC Baseball World Rankings are released, current No. 11 Australia will overtake Italy and move into the world's Top 10.
"It's a great achievement for us to climb to 10th in the world," said Baseball Australia's High Performance Manager, Glenn Williams. "We've had a plan all along to attend international events with ranking points, and it's great to have success leading up to such an important international tournament cycle."
New Zealand, currently No. 27, is also set for a bump in the rankings, while Guam is set to make the nation's 2017 debut in the world rankings.
Road to U-18 Baseball World Cup 2017
Eleven nations have secured their place in the elite U-18 world championship, with the 12th country -- Africa's representative -- still to be determined:
Tickets for the pinnacle international youth baseball competition may be purchased at www.thunderbay2017.com.
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Contact: media@wbsc.org, @WBSC
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About the WBSC U-18 Baseball World CupÂ
The WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup is the highest-level of baseball in its age category and is one of youth sport's pinnacle competitions. The U-18 Baseball World Cup, along with its continental qualifiers, has featured players who have gone on to become some of the biggest names in the sport, including Canada's Brett Lawrie, Japan's Yu Darvish and Shohei Otani, South Korea's Shin-soo Choo, Cuba's Yasiel Puig and Aroldis Chapman, and USA's Clayton Kershaw, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Buster Posey and Andrew McCutchen, among countless others. The most recent generation of rising stars include Cuba's Yoan Moncada and Jorge Soler, USA's Francisco Lindor and Canada's Dalton Pompey.
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For more information, visit: www.wbsc.org
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