Australia to host Guam for WBSC Oceania U-23 Baseball World Cup Qualifier

World No. 11 Australia will host No. 32 Guam at the Blacktown International Sportspark in Rooty Hill, Sydney - a venue for the baseball competition at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games - for the WBSC Oceania U-23 Baseball World Cup Qualifier. The two teams will compete in a best-of-five series with the winner advancing to the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2026.

Manager Shayne Watson selected a 20-player Australian roster including three professional players: Right-handed pitcher Bailey-Jay Cooke (a Class A player for the Oakland Athletics), infielder Max Durrington (also at Class A with the Athletics) and outfielder Drew Davies (who split his second professional season with the Cincinnati Reds between the Rookie and Class A levels).

Catcher Jake Burns (St. Louis Cardinals), right-handed pitcher Jackson Grounds (Pittsburgh Pirates), outfielder Solomon Maguire (Pittsburgh Pirates) and left-handed pitcher Ben Walmsley (Cincinnati Reds) have had Minor League Baseball (MiLB) experience.

Maguire, Cooke and left-handed pitcher Lachlan Brook participated in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2024.

Seven players on the roster played for Australia at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025 presented by RAXUS: Catcher Cooper Teichmann, infielders Will Hardy and Josh Nati, utility players Lachlan Vella and Matt Trainor, right-hander Patrick Crotty and left-hander Damien Wilson.

Joseph Tuquero will manage Guam. He represented the island as an infielder at the South Pacific Games 1999, 2003 South Pacific Games, 2003 Oceania Championship and 2011 Pacific Games. The core of his 20-player roster formed the second-place team at the Pacific Mini Games in July.

WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2026

Nicaragua will host the VI WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup from November 6 to 15, 2026. The WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup is an evolution of the U-21 Baseball World Cup, hosted by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) in 2014 in Taichung.

The Local Organising Committee has proposed three venues to host the tournament: Soberanía National Stadium in Managua, the brand-new Roberto Clemente Stadium in Masaya, and Rigoberto López Pérez Stadium in León. The venues will be confirmed at a later stage.

Eleven teams have already qualified.

No. 16 Nicaragua has earned an automatic berth as the host nation.

No. 17 Great Britain and No. 15 Czechia secured Europe’s two tickets by finishing first and second, respectively, at the European Championship held in Czechia this past August.

No. 1 Japan, No. 2 Chinese Taipei and No. 4 Korea qualified through the XXXI BFA Asian Championship in September.

No. 8 Panama, No. 7 Puerto Rico and No. 9 Cuba qualified through the North, Central America and Caribbean Qualifier in early October.

No. 5 Venezuela won the South America Qualifier which ended during the last weekend of October.

No.26 South Africa won the WBSC Africa Qualifier on Sunday.