BANDITS WELL REPRESENTED IN ABL ALL-STAR GAME
The game will be televised live in Australia on Fox Sports at 7.00pm on Wednesday
This Wednesday December 21, Team Australia – fronted by the best of home grown talent, will play against Team World, a bold mixture of this season’s Australian Baseball League imports in the inaugural ConocoPhillips ABL All-Star Game. The match will feature six of Brisbane Bandit’s finest in what promises to be the biggest event in Australian baseball history as it will be broadcast to over 50 countries and over 400 million households. Right fielder Josh Roberts and pitcher Justin ‘Bobby’ Erasmus were handpicked from the Bandits to represent Team Australia.
“I can’t wait to pull on the Australian uniform and be surrounded by players with so much experience” Erasmus notes “This is the most prestigious game of the ABL to date, to be chosen a part of this history is very humbling. Hopefully, this won’t be my last.”
As for the other team, Erasmus is looking forward to seeing what they’ve got “From all ABL imports they have really chosen the best, big names, some with big league experience – I can’t wait to get out there.”
Four players on Team Australia and three on Team World boast Major League experience.
The Bandits high performing Japanese imports starting pitcher Yohei Yanagawa, catcher Ayatsugu Yamashita and short stop Kenta Imamiya will form part of Team World. Italian pitcher Alessandro ‘Alex’ Maestri is grateful for this opportunity and undoubtedly will add an exciting element to the exhibition match: “There are definitely some great Australian players we are up against. I am looking forward to seeing what the other imports can do. Considering we have played against every team in the league already, Wednesday will be exciting – it’s going to be a great game.”
Australian, Asian and American audiences will be treated to this exciting display of Bandits talent on December 21st. This game is the perfect platform to showcase the calibre of the Australian Baseball League players and in particular, what the boys in black can do.
Team Australia: Hayden Beard, Justin Erasmus, Steven Kent, Cameron Lamb, Chris Oxspring, Dushan Ruzic, Warwick Saupold, Daniel Schmidt, Matt Kennelly, Allan De San Miguel, Scott Wearne, Luke Hughes, Mitch Graham, Justin Huber, Stefan Welch, Josh Roberts, Tom Brice, Andrew Russell, Mitch Dening, Tim Kennelly.
Team World: Alessandro Maestri, Rinku Singh, Hiroshi Katayama, Ryan Beckman, Yohei Yanagawa, Mike McGuire, Jason Hirsh, Yusei Kikuchi, Fumikazu Kimura, Dae Sung Koo, Alex Burg, Ayatsugu Yamashita, Brian Burgamy, Dominic Ramos, Mychal Givens, Kenta Imamiya, Chin-lung Hu, Todd Glaesmann, Denny Almonte, James McOwen, Tyler Collins.
The game will be televised live in Australia on Fox Sports at 7.00pm AEDST.