U-15
Baseball World Cup competition schedule announced, 18 nations in action 31
July
LAUSANNE,
Switzerland -- The official competition schedule of the eighteen-nation 2014
U-15 Baseball World Cup has been announced, revealing that all
eighteen participating National Teams will be competing on Opening Day.
The
most elite selection of 15-year-old baseball players in the world will be
competing for their countries in the II U-15 Baseball World Cup, which will be staged from 31-July to
10-August in Culiacan, Los Mochis and Mazatlán, Mexico.
It
was also announced that the Central American country -- and world No. 52 --
Guatemala
has been added to Group A. (See Groups.)
To
open the U-15 World Cup, teams within each group will compete in a
round-robin that consists of five games in five days, with the top two
finishers from each group advancing to the second round.
U-15
World Cup 'Opening Day'
Schedule (in order of play):
No. 4 Chinese Taipei
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vs.
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No. 52 Guatemala
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No. 28 New Zealand
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vs.
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No. 19 Germany
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No. 2 Japan
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vs.
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No. 31 South Africa
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No. 15 Brazil
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vs.
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No. 27 Czech Republic
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No. 14 Australia
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vs.
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No. 54 Lithuania
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No. 10 Venezuela
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vs.
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No. 29 Hong Kong
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No. 12 Mexico
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vs.
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No. 11 Italy
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No. 13 Panama
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vs.
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No. 1 United States
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No. 22 Argentina
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vs.
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No. 3 Cuba
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(See Official Schedule).
The
majority of the 2014 U-15 World Cup field (fifteen of the eighteen
participating nations) boasts a World
Ranking between No. 1 - 31.
No.
13 Panama, No. 14 Australia and No. 15 Brazil will all be aiming to make a
push at the U-15 World Cup to improve their position within the rankings,
in order to qualify for the 2015 Premier12
-- the recently announced professional-level World Championship in which
the world's top-twelve nations at the end of 2014 will qualify into the new
flagship event. No. 10 Venezuela, No. 11 Italy and No. 12 Mexico can use a
solid U-15 performance to secure their position as a 'Premier12' nation.
Venezuela
will come into the event as the defending U-15 World Champion, handing Cuba
its only loss at the gold medal finale of the inaugural U-15 Baseball World
Cup in 2012; Chinese Taipei defeated the host, Mexico, to earn the bronze
medal.
The
2014 U-15 world championship will be the first time that either No.1 USA or
No. 2 Japan will be represented. Others making their debuts are Australia,
Czech Republic, New Zealand, Panama and South Africa -- which connects
Africa and Oceania to the U-15 Baseball World Cup platform for the first
time ever.
Baseball's
2014 U-15 global platform expands across Africa, the Americas (i.e., the
Caribbean, North-, Central- and South America), Asia, Europe and Oceania.
Coverage of the eighty-three
world championship matches will be enhanced by online play-by-play (i.e., U-15
Baseball World Cup CBSSports GameTracker) and
through social media (by following @BWC15U on Twitter
and "BaseballWorldCup" on Facebook
and
Instagram; official hash tag #BWC15U). Broadcast details are
expected to be announced in the coming days.
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