Great Britain Baseball Senior National Team Announces Roster for 2023 European Championships

23 Sep

The Great Britain Senior Roster for the 2023 European Baseball Championships

The British Baseball Federation and Great Britain Baseball Senior National Team Manager Drew Spencer have today announced the players selected for the 2023 European Baseball Championships. The team will compete in Pool B in Třebíč, Czechia in the opening round of the competition from 24-26 September. The top two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the quarter-finals, which will be played in Brno and Blansko, while the teams in 3rd and 4th position in the group will compete for 9th-16th place, which will take place in Brno and Třebíč.

Great Britain is coming off their debut at the World Baseball Classic earlier this year, where the team earned their first win and qualification for the 2026 Classic, and will compete in Europe for the first time since last September, when the team went an undefeated 3-0 to qualify for the WBC. In the 2021 edition of the European Championships in Piedmont, Italy, Great Britain finished sixth, their best finish since 2007, and will return 12 players from that team.

The following players will represent Great Britain at the 2023 European Championships

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Anthony Buonaiuto
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Shamoy Christopher
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Alex Crosby
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Kennard Dawson
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Jake Esch
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Michael Flaherty
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Harry Ford
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Austin Hassani
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Demoi Hodge
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Joseph King
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Jake Lambdin
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Ben Leid
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Ray Mercer
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Chris Messer
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Freddy Mosier
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Jack Prichard
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Julian Sanders
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Tyler Sharples
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Aaron Singh
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Matteo Sollecito
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Ethan Solomon
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Nateshon Thomas
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Nick Ward
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Alex Webb
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Great Britain’s roster features seven players from this March’s World Baseball Classic Roster, with Crosby, Esch, Ford, King, Sollecito, Ward, and Webb returning for European duty. Additionally, six players from British Overseas Territories – Thomas, Dawson, Christopher, Hodge and Mercer from the British Virgin Islands, and Messer from the Cayman Islands - will don the Great Britain uniform. Eight players on the roster – Dawson, Hodge, Lambdin, Mercer, Leid, Flaherty, Sharples and Sollecito along with manager Drew Spencer and coaches Conor Brooks, Jonathon Cramman and Scott Bourgeois - were part of this year’s Great Britain U23 roster, helping the team win silver, their best finish in European play, and securing a berth in the 2024 U23 Baseball World Cup in China.

The Coaching Staff, led by Drew Spencer, consists of:

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Manager – Drew Spencer
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Bench Coach – Brad Marcelino
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Bench Coach - Jonathon Cramman
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Pitching Coach – Conor Brooks
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Third Base Coach – TS Reed
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First Base Coach – Scott Bourgeois
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Bullpen Coach – Brock Riley
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Head Athletic Trainer – Alan Dean
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Athletic Trainer – Jesse Guffey
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Bullpen Catcher – Derrick Cook
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Team Manager – Glen Robertson
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Great Britain will play in their first game in Pool B in Třebíč against Sweden on Sunday, 24 September. First pitch is scheduled for 17:30 CEST/16:30 BST. Great Britain will then play Hungary on 25 September at 11 CEST/10 BST and will wrap up pool play against Italy on 26 September at 17:30 CEST/16:30 BST.

The 2023 European Baseball Championships can be watched on Staylive, WBSC Europe’s newly announced streaming partner for the contest, at BaseballEurope.TV. Great Britain’s games will have a familiar sound to British fans, as GB Press Officer and BaseballSoftballUK Broadcaster Chris Knoblock will broadcast every Great Britain game throughout the competition. GB fans can get a 10% discount on the tournament streaming package by using the code GREATBRITAIN10 at checkout.

For the latest news and notes from GB Baseball at the 2023 European Baseball Championships and more, make sure to follow Great Britain Baseball on Facebook, and gb_baseball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.