Baseball World Cup starts in Lismore

LISMORE hosts Australian and Canadian baseball teams ahead of under-18 World Cup

BIG HITTER: Liam MacDonald was a standout for the Australian under-18 team against Canada at Albert Park, Lismore yesterday. Picture: SMP Images

LIAM MacDonald drove in six runs as Australia wrapped up its preparations for the Under-18 Baseball World Cup with a 11-7 win over Canada in Lismore.

MacDonald starred, finishing with three hits and six runs batted in, as Australia recorded its fourth win in a six games series against Canada yesterday.

Jaylin Rae collected four hits as Australia produced another strong offensive display.

Australia took a first-inning lead on MacDonald's runs-batted-in (RBI) single and extended its advantage in the top of the third.

MacDonald drove in his second run before scoring on a triple from Chris Burke.

Canada cut two runs off Australia's lead in the bottom-half of the innings.

Australia added four runs in the fourth but Canada responded with three of its own to stay in touch.

A four-run fifth put Australia out in front by six runs.

Conor Myles added an RBI-single after Solomon Maguire, Travis Bazzana and Rae all singled to load the bases.

MacDonald continued his red-hot game with a bases-clearing triple to make it 11-5.

Canada added a pair of late runs but fell short in the seven-inning contest.

William Sherriff struck out five in three solid innings on the mound for the Aussies.

Earlier in the day, Australia finalised its 20-man roster for the World Cup in South Korea.

Eight players from NSW made the final roster following a gruelling six-day training camp at the Albert Park baseball complex in Lismore.

They were Travis Bazzana, Jake Burns, Blake Cavill, Jack Lee, Solomon Maguire, Liam McCallum, Rae and Jo Stevens.

Lismore has now hosted a number of baseball events this year including the Australian Little League Championships in June.

It is another coup for Lismore City Council which is currently completing a $4.95 million upgrade at the facilities.

"The money they've put into the facility is dedicated to player development and these kind of camps,” Australian high performance coach Glenn Williams said.

"We love coming to Lismore; we feel really at home here and the Far North Coast Baseball association really looks after us, too.

"Plenty of guys that have made this team have gone on to great careers and equally others that have missed out have gone on to better things as well; we make sure they know that.”

Australia faces Nicaragua in its opening World Cup game on Friday afternoon.