World Junior Baseball Semi Final Match-ups Announced
Team Canada Semi-Final Available on Live Webcast
THUNDER BAY, ON – The match-ups for Saturday’s semi-final action at the 2010 IBAF World Junior Baseball Championship have been announced, along with an important schedule change and broadcast information for the tournament.
Team Canada, 5-1, will face the Chinese Taipei at 7:00 pm at Port Arthur Stadium after defeating Italy 11-1 in Quarter-Final action Friday night. Chinese Taipei, also 5-1, advances after defeating the Netherlands 4-2 at Baseball Central Friday afternoon. The other semi-final matchup features Cuba, 4-2, against Australia, also 4-2, at 2:00 pm at Port Arthur Stadium. Cuba defeated Team USA 3-2 in a thrilling contest Friday afternoon at Port Arthur Stadium, while Australia surprised South Korea with a 5-4 win at Baseball Central.
Fans are asked to make note of the adjusted start times for both semi-final games, as Team Canada’s matchup (Game 40) will now take place at 7:00 pm instead of 2:00 pm as indicated in the original tournament schedule.
The complete schedule for Saturday, July 31, 2010 is as follows:
Game #37 – France v. Czech Republic, 9:00 at Baseball Central
Game #38 – Panama v. Venezuela, 9:30 at Port Arthur Stadium
Game #39 – Netherlands v. Italy, 12:30 at Baseball Central
Game #42 – Cuba v. Australia, 2:00 at Port Arthur Stadium
Game #41 – USA v. South Korea, 4:30 at Baseball Central
Game #40 – Canada v. Chinese Taipei, 7:00 at Port Arthur Stadium
Tickets are available at the box office beginning at 8:30 am at Port Arthur Stadium.
It was also announced today that the IBAF, through Rogers Communications of Canada, will be producing and broadcasting 3 of the 4 medal round games July 31st and August 1st. This announcement heralds the availability of one of international baseball’s great showcases to over 400 million baseball fans globally.
‘We are very excited to be able to make these games available to the global baseball fan base. All of us at the IBAF appreciate the support of Rogers Communications to make this possible,” stated Federation President Riccardo Fraccari from Stuttgart, Germany.
In conjunction with Rogers Communication and its subsidiary, Rogers Sportsnet, the IBAF has also entered into agreements for the games to be covered in the Americas by ICRT Cuba, MLB Network and ESPN 3.com in the United States and TELE Sports 13 Puerto Rico to reach an unprecedented audience for the event.
The event will also be available across Asia through ESPN STAR Sports television channels: ESPN HD networks and ESPN Player, a broadband network.
IBAF Executive Director Roberto Fabbricini noted, “The addition of these broadcast partners demonstrate the global passion for the game of baseball, and we are excited to realize this project for our global fans.”
In Canada, all three games will be available through online webcast at www.worldbaseball2010.com with the Gold Medal final shown on tape delay on all Rogers Sportsnet channels as shown below.
Live webcast times are:
7 PM EDT Saturday July 31st (Semi-Final 2)
12 PM EDT Sunday August 1st (Bronze Medal Game)
430 PM EDT Sunday August 1st (Gold Medal Game)
Gold Medal Final on Rogers Sportsnet in Canada:
Rogers Sportsnet Pacific – August 1st 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT
Rogers Sportsnet Ontario – August 2nd 1:00pm ET
Rogers Sportsnet West – August 2nd 1:30pm ET/ 11:30am MT
Rogers Sportsnet East – August 3rd 1pm ET
