OTTAWA, ON – Baseball Canada announced today the roster that will represent Canada at the 2007 International BAseball Federation (IBAF) World Cup in Taiwan from November 6-18.
Among the 24 players selected by Baseball Canada for the event are four former members of the 2004 Olympic Team who are RHP Mike Johnson (Edmonton, AB), LHP Mike Kusiewicz (Ottawa, ON), SS Kevin Nicholson (Langley, BC) and OF Jeremy Ware (Guelph, ON).
This will be a young squad that will represent Canada as only six players on the 24-man roster are over the age of 25.
“We’re excited about our roster,” says Greg Hamilton, Coach and Director of National Teams for Baseball Canada. “We will be young, but given our talent level we anticipate being very competitive. Many of these players have the potential to impact our Olympic team program and the professional game going forward.”
Sixteen countries will be featured at the World Cup and will be divided into two groups. Canada will be featured in Group B along with Australia, Cuba, Germany, Korea, Netherlands, Thailand and Venezuela. Group A will have Chinese Taipei, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Panama, South Africa, Spain and the United States.
Before heading over to Taiwan, the Senior National Team will make its way to Perth, Australia from October 29th to November 4th for a training camp and exhibition series against the Perth Heat of the Australian Pro-Am League.
Canada’s World Cup schedule sees them play seven games within their group in round-robin play and the top four teams in each group play in the quarter-finals.
Click here to see the entire 24-man roster and schedule of the Senior National Team for the 2007 World Cup.
