World Cup Countdown ...... ”T-Minus Seven Days”
With Australia’s first game of the 2007 Baseball World Cup a little over a week away, team preparations have kicked into overdrive with the Green and Gold set to contest their first pre-tournament practice game against the Netherlands today

Game time is 2.00pm AEST and the entire Australian squad are looking forward to finally getting the chance to put a uniquely “Aussie” style of baseball to the test

Australian third baseman Glenn Williams, who is veteran of two Olympic games and playing in his third World Cup, was one of many vocal team leaders eager to showcase the brand of play that has become synonymous with the current crop of National Team players
“We know we’re the ‘Mangy Dogs’ of the baseball world” Williams said while addressing the team last night
“That’s not a bad thing - it just means we need to scrap, and fight, and tear for every out and every run of the World Cup - if we do that we can win” he said

Major League teammate Justin Huber also knows the Aussies will need to show off some unique talents to achieve their goals in this tournament
“We always hear about a ‘Latin style’ of Baseball, an ‘Asian style’ of baseball - well I am pretty keen to show the world an ‘Aussie style’ of baseball” Huber said
“Rest assured we will leave nothing in reserve”

Today’s game against the Netherlands is the first of four “Warm-up” games Australia will play ahead of their opening World Cup fixture against Cuba on November 7

Manager Jon Deeble will use the four practice games to shuffle his line-up and ensure that all twenty-four players are ready to ‘fire’ come the tournament proper
“Results over the next four days really don’t mean anything” Deeble said
“For some of these guys it will be the first decent pitching they have faced in a month, so really it’s just about getting the guys some at bats, and making sure the pitching staff finds some rhythm heading into next week”

Australia will play Chinese Taipei, Italy and Cuba in the remaining three matches prior to the World Cup

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Australia cruised to a comfortable 10-1 victory in an auspicious start to their 2007 World Cup campaign - confirming that early predictions of success remain firmly on target

The lopsided affair showcased what many knew to be the strength of the Australian squad, with four Aussie pitchers combining to limit the Dutch to a lone run

Greg Wiltshire, making his first start for Australia in international competition, pitched four solid innings allowing just one run on two hits while striking out three
Assistant Coach Tony Harris was impressed with the debutants’ performance
“He (Wiltshire) was good today - he’s not overpowering, but he’s a real competitor and gave us exactly what we needed first up” Harris said shortly after the game

Not to be outdone, a trio of Aussie relievers dominated the final five frames; with Dushan Ruzic, Tristan Crawford and Adam Bright shutting down the Dutch offence the rest of the way

But as impressive as that was, a relentless display at the plate has the Australian camp quietly confident that the pitchers wont be the only ones enjoying their time in Taiwan
Trent Oeltjen, Justin Huber, Glenn Williams, Brett Roneberg and Tom Brice all had fantastic days, combining to go an outlandish 11-18 at the plate with 10 RBI's to lead the Australian onslaught

Things started early for the Aussies in the top of the first when back-to-back one-out walks followed by singles to Williams and Roneberg gave the home side a 2-0 advantage
The lead was stretched to three the very next hitter, when some good hustle from Roneberg broke up a double play and allowed Williams to score from second base

The offence remained relatively quite for the next three frames before a walk to Ben Risinger spelled disaster for Dutch starter Kenny Berkenkosch
Justin Huber laced a two-out double to left-centre that allowed Risinger to score, before being driven in on a Brett Roneberg single that gave the Queenlander three RBI's for the game, and stoked Australia a 5-1 lead

That would do it for Berkenkosch, but not for the Australian hitters who continued to make things tough for the Dutch staff scoring 5 more times in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings - and scoring four of those runs with two outs

Centerfielder Trent Oeltjen finished the day just a home run shy of the cycle, while Justin Huber’s second two-out double of the afternoon all but told the story of what was a tremendous first hit-out for Australia

However as good as their performance was, the Aussies will be careful not to mistake this for what really counts in about two weeks time - the medal rounds of the World Cup

“It was certainly a great performance from top to bottom, not too much really went against us today” Head Coach Jon Deeble said
“But they’re (Netherlands) a lot better than that and we need to remember that today’s win counts for nothing more than a good opportunity to dust off some of the cobwebs”

Deebs - consider them dusted!!!

Het Nederlands team, dat afgelopen weekeinde voor het eerst terugkeerde in Taiwan sinds de succesvol verlopen Intercontinental Cup van 2006, had opmerkelijk weinig in te brengen tegen de Australische defensie
De Nederlandse spelers hadden nog wel moeite om zich aan te passen aan de omstandigheden
Oranje werkte voor aanvang van de oefenwedstrijd nog maar één training af in de Taiwanese warmte, waar het momenteel rond de 25 graden is
Terwijl Nederland nog zocht naar zijn vorm, liep de Ausrtalische slagmachine gesmeerd
Het enige Nederlandse punt werd in de tweede inning gescoord door Sidney de Jong
Na vier wijd scoorde hij op een tweehonkslag van Bryan Engelhardt en een klap van Gregory Halman
Op dat moment was Oranje echter al op een 3-0 achterstand gezet
Startend werper Kenny Berkenbosch opende het duel met twee vrije lopen en kreeg vervolgens hits om zijn oren van Glenn Williams en Brett Roneberg
Een veldfout van korte stop Hainley Statia zorgde hierna voor de 3-0 achterstand
Berkenbosch herstelde zich goed en stond nog maar twee hits toe tot aan de vijfde inning
Na vier wijd en een hit van Justin Huber werd Berkenbosch in deze vijfde Australische slagbeurt op de heuvel vervangen voor Nick Stuifbergen
Gevaar
Die zag Australië via twee punten in de vijfde en één run in de zesde inning zijn puntenaantal verdubbelen
Twee honkslagen op het werpen van Berry van Driel brachten Australië in de zevende inning zelfs op 7-1, alvorens Duko Jansen zijn tegenstander in de achtste slagbeurt zag uitlopen naar de 10-1 eindstand
De pitcher van Kinheim moest in de slotfase nog eens vier hits, waaronder twee tweehonkslagen toestaan
Uiteindelijk kwam Australië dit duel tot twaalf honkslagen
Aanvallend wist Nederland hier zelf maar vijf hits tegenover te zetten op onder meer de Australische debutant Greg Whiltshire
De honkslagen kwamen op naam van Bryan Engelhardt, Sidney de Jong, Roel Koolen, Rogearvin Bernadina en Vince Rooi
Maar geen enkele maal wist een loper na de tweede inning voorbij het tweede honk te komen
Bovendien vielen de hits te verspreid om een gevaar te vormen
Bondscoach Robert Eenhoorn startte de wedstrijd met de slagvolgorde Rogearvin Bernadina (midveld), Hainley Statia (korte stop), Raily Legito (derde honk), Sharnol Adriana (eerste honk), Sidney de Jong (catcher), Bryan Engelhardt (aangewezen slagman), Gregory Halman (linksveld), Dirk van 't Klooster (rechtsveld) en Roel Koolen (tweede honk)
Halverwege de wedstrijd verving Michael Duursma (zesde inning) in het veld Statia
Tjerk Smeets (zesde inning) en Vince Rooi (achtste inning) kwamen in de wedstrijd voor respectievelijk De Jong en Legito
De oefenwedstrijd tegen Australië maakt deel uit van het voorbereidingstoernooi op het wereldkampioenschap
Aan dit toernooi nemen ook Italië, Spanje en gastland Chinese Taipei deel
Oranje sluit het toernooi 3 november af en reist vervolgens af naar Taipei, waar nog één gezamenlijke training op het programma staat voor de start van het WK
Nederland speelt woensdag 7 november zijn eerste WK-wedstrijd tegen debutant Thailand

I don't know if you have heard yet - but the first day wasn't too bad for me!
The only thing I didn't like was not playing the whole game
Apart from that, it was pretty good for my first game in two months
We won 10-1 and I started at first base and hit fifth
In my first at bat, the bases were loaded and I singled to right for two RBI's
I then lined out to third base
Then singled to left-centrefield for a two-out RBI
So I ended up with 2-for-3 with three RBI's and I was pretty happy with that
Also made a nice 'pick' at first base as well
So a good first day!!