South Africa national baseball team

The South African national baseball team is the baseball team which represents the Republic of South Africa in international baseball competitions such as the World Baseball Classic and the Summer Olympics. The governing body of the team is the South African Baseball Union.

South Africa national baseball team
Information
Country	South Africa
Federation	South African Baseball Union
Confederation	African Baseball & Softball Association
Manager	Andy Berglund
WBSC ranking
Current	30 (27 November 2024)
Highest	22 (June 2021)
Lowest	39 (December 2014)
World Baseball Classic
Appearances	2 (first in 2006)
Best result	16th (2 times, most recent in 2009)
Olympic Games
Appearances	1 (first in 2000)
Best result	8th
World Cup
Appearances	5 (first in 1998)
Best result	14th (1 time, in 2001)
All-Africa Games
Appearances	2 (first in 1999)
Best result	1st (2 times, most recent in 2003)

History

On 5 July 1931, the first inter-provincial match was played between the only two provincial teams, Transvaal and Natal, in front of a crowd of 4,000 spectators. Included in the match was Springbok cricketer Buster Nupen (Transvaal), Springbok rugby player Bill Payn (Natal) and Springbok footballer George Brunton. Springbok All-Star teams would later be based on the best of several provinces, with Transvaal, Natal, and Western Province dominating.

In 1933, the clash between Natal and Transvaal included Nupen and Brunton, as well as Olympic gold medal hurdler Sid Atkinson(Natal), Springbok cricketers Charlie Cawse(Transvaal), Louis Duffus(Transvaal), Eric Dalton(Natal), Syd Curnow(Transvaal) and Springbok cricket captain Jock Cameron (Transvaal). In 1934, the match between Natal and Western Province featured Springbok rugby player Gerry Brand (Western Province).

The South African Baseball Federation was founded in 1935, with five provincial associations including Transvaal, Natal (founded 1931), Western Province (founded 1932), Eastern Province (founded 1934), and Border.

The first South African All-Star team appears to be formed on 19 November 1938, when an 'All Africa team' made up of the 'combined provinces' played a US Navy team from the USS Boise. South African cricketer Dudley Nourse featured for Natal a few days later , and was noted as winning 'admiration of the visitors'. Nourse would later go on to captain and manage the South African cricket team as well as later holding Springbok records for test appearances and batting average. When he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1948, the Press Association reported Nourse 'became one of his country's leading baseball experts'. The score is recorded as 18-3 to US Navy.

In Cape Town, on 17 November 1945, a South African exhibition team made up of players from the Transvaal, Natal, Eastern, and Western Province provinces took on a US Navy team from the USS Tennessee and USS California battleships. 'Nearly 20,000 cheering fans witnessed the principal game, which the ships’ company was hard pressed to win by two tallies (six to four)'.

In Johannesburg, on 19 March 1950, the Australian cricket team ended their tour with a baseball match against a combined South African baseball team, in front of a reported record crowd of 12,000.

The American All-Stars (1955–56)

During a visit to Battle Creek, Michigan, in the United States in July 1955, the chairman of the South African Baseball Board met with the President of American Baseball Congress to finalise arrangements for celebrating baseball's 50th year in South Africa. The three-month and unbeaten 33 game tour began on 14 November 1955, finishing in February 1956.

The "semi-pro level" American all-star team was managed by New York Yankees scout Terry Bartron and included Brooklyn Dodgers' Hall of Famer and World Series runner up (1953) Don Thompson, and Dick Stuart who went on to become World Series champion (1960), a two-time MLB All-Star player (1961), and the first first baseman in major league history to record three assists in one inning (1963).

Seven of the 33 games were against the first-ever official South African All-Star "test" team, which included Northern and Southern Rhodesia.

Modern era

The national team appeared in their first and only Olympic tournament in the 2000 Olympics. South Africa gained entry into the tournament by beating Guam 3–0 in a best-of-five Africa/Oceania playoff series. The team finished with a record of 1–6, with their only win against Team Netherlands.

The win against the Netherlands was thanks largely to two key players:

• Tim Harrell (P) pitched all 10 innings in the game, giving up just two un-earned runs on five walks and six hits, with four strikeouts.
• Ian Holness (RF) knocked in all three of South Africa's runs. He hit a solo home run in the 6th inning against Dutch starter Patrick de Lange, followed by an RBI double off reliever Radhames Dykhoff. He finished off the run scoring by hitting another solo home run in the 10th inning, off Dutch closer Rikkert Faneyte.

World Baseball Classic appearances (2006–2009)

South Africa's inclusion in the WBC was considered rather surprising by many observers. No South African player reached Major League Baseball until Gift Ngoepe did so with the Pittsburgh Pirates on 27 April 2017. The team was managed by Rick Magnante, with then MLB career saves leader Lee Smith as a coach.

In the team's first game, South Africa nearly pulled off an upset of Canada, a team consisting of mostly Major League Baseball players. South Africa took an 8–7 lead into the ninth inning before falling 11–8. This would be as close as the team would get to winning a game. The South Africans lost the next two games to Mexico 10–4, and to the United States in a mercy rule-shortened 17–0 rout.

2009

South Africa competed at the 2009 World Baseball Classic in Group B with Mexico, Cuba, and Australia.

In game 1 South Africa were overpowered by international powerhouse Cuba, giving up 6 home runs in an 8–1 loss. The South African defence was a bright point in the match however, turning three double plays and 2 pickoffs.

In the group elimination match South Africa lost heavily to hosts Mexico 14–3. Although the South Africans kept it a one-run ball game heading into the 7th inning, the Mexican team pounced on the inexperienced bullpen pitchers that entered the game late on and scored 11 runs in the final three innings.

South Africa finished the 2009 WBC with an 0–2 record, with 4 runs scored and 22 conceded.

Back to the WBC qualifiers (2012–present)

Four qualifying tournaments were scheduled in 2012 for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, with one team advancing from each to join the 12 squads that had qualified previously by winning at least one game in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Each of the pools included one team with previous experience in the WBC, but which failed to win a single game during the 2009 tournament. South Africa was placed in Qualifier 1 with Spain, France, and Israel at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida.

South Africa lost the first game of this double-elimination tournament to dark horse Israel, 7–3. They moved into the loser's bracket where they eliminated France, 5–2 in 11 innings, after Paul Bell hit a 2-run double into left field in the top of the 11th. In the loser's bracket final, South Africa fell to eventual WBC qualifier Spain, 13–3, and was eliminated from the tournament. Minnesota Twins prospect, Hein Robb pitched 5.1 innings in 2 relief appearances, giving up 0 runs while striking out 4 batters during the qualifying tournament.

The team competed at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy in September 2019. Among those who played for the team were Bradley Erasmus, Anthony Phillips, Darryn Smith, and Dylan Unsworth.

Current roster

South Africa roster - 2023 World Baseball Classic Qualification
Players				Coaches
Pitchers 13 Derick Baylis 94 Darryn Chalmers 91 Dylan De Meyer 27 Jared Elario 22 Justin Erasmus 36 Donovan Hendricks 12 Dean Jacobs 35 Damon King 67 Robert Lewis-Walker 38 Kieran Lovegrove 54 Daniel Mendelsohn  1 Brandon Smith  7 Lloyd Stevens  5 Kevin Townend		Catchers 18 Kyle Botha 31 Dayle Feldtman 34 Tyrone Milne Infielders 17 Christian Beyers 24 Nicholas Eagles 23 Josh Hendricks -- Gift Ngoepe  9 Victor Ngoepe 14 Jonathan Phillips  2 Tyler Smith 20 Keegan Swanepoel Outfielders 21 Brandon Bouillon 25 Jason Carelse 48 Brandon Edmunds 19 Benjamin Smith		Manager 6 Andy Berglund Coaches 16 Neil Adonis 40 Jody Birch 11 Kevin Johnson 37 Corey Lee 33 Erick Threets

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of professional baseball match results currently active in the latest version of the WBSC World Rankings, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

  Win   Lose   Void or postponed   Fixture

2022

World Baseball Classic Q	September 16	South Africa	4–5	Spain	Armin-Wolf-Arena, Germany
	13:00 CET	LP: Jared Elario	Boxscore	WP: Vicente Campos Sv: Rhiner Cruz HR: Justin Connell (1)	Umpires: Roberto LaMadrid

World Baseball Classic Q	September 19	South Africa	5–11	Germany	Armin-Wolf-Arena, Germany
	12:00 CET	LP: Kevin Townend (0-1) HR: Dayle Feldtman (1)	Boxscore	WP: Nick Wittgren (1-0) Sv: Sascha Koch (1) HR: William Germaine (1), Demetrius Moorer (1, 2)	Attendance: 920 Umpires: Sam Burch (HP), Tyler Jones (1B), Young Chou Kwon (2B), Kyohei Makita (3B)

Tournament record

World Baseball Classic

World Baseball Classic record								Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	W	L	RS	RA		W	L	RS	RA
2006	Round 1	16th	0	3	12	38		No qualifiers held
2009	Round 1	16th	0	2	4	22		No qualifiers held
2013	did not qualify							1	2	11	22
2017	did not qualify							2	2	22	19
2023	did not qualify							0	2	9	16
Total	Round 1	2/5	0	5	16	60	3	6	42	57

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics record									Qualification
Year	Host	Round	Position	W	L	RS	RA
2000	Australia	Preliminary	8th	1	6	11	73		1999 All-Africa Games Defeated Guam in Africa versus Oceania Playoff
Total	1/5			1	6	11	73

All-Africa Games

All-Africa Games record
Year	Host	Position	W	L	RS	RA
1999	South Africa	1st	5	0	158	6
2003	Nigeria	1st	Unavailable
Total	2/2		-	-	-	-

South Africa was the host of the All-Africa Games in 1999. South Africa won the gold medal with ease, by defeating all of the other national teams. In order of the wins South Africa won against Lesotho (43–0) with Ian Holness hitting 4 home runs and 14 RBIs, Zimbabwe (37–2), Nigeria (19–1), Uganda (31–0) and Ghana (28–3). South Africa was again the dominant power in the 2003 Games held in Abuja, cruising to the final where they beat Nigeria 15–0 to win Gold.

1999 All-Africa Games

9 September 10:00	South Africa	43–0 (F/5)	Lesotho	Randburg Sports Stadium
	WP: Braydon Bartle	Boxscore	LP: Teboho Shelile

11 September 12:30	Zimbabwe	2–37 (F/6)	South Africa	Randburg Sports Stadium
	LP: Ozias Moyo	Boxscore	WP: Darryn Smith

12 September 12:30	Nigeria	1–19 (F/7)	South Africa	Randburg Sports Stadium
	LP: Ceaser Ofoedu	Boxscore	WP: Carl Michaels

13 September 09:00	South Africa	31–0 (F/7)	Uganda	Randburg Sports Stadium
	WP: Vaughn Beariman	Boxscore	LP: Rockfeller Erima

14 September 15:00	Ghana	3–28 (F/5)	South Africa	Randburg Sports Stadium
	LP: Mohammed Sherrif	Boxscore	WP: Wesley Botha