New Zealand Team Named for Oceania U15 Championships
Baseball New Zealand’s national selectors have finalized their 20-man roster for next week’s Baseball Confederation of Oceania U15 tournament being held at Auckland’s Lloyd Elsmore Park in Pakuranga.
Under the guidance of former San Diego Padres and New Zealand Diamondblacks pitcher Riki Paewai, the New Zealand Under-15 team will play the role of host to Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji in next week’s tournament, which is a qualifying tournament for the World Baseball Softball Confederation World Cup in Panama later in 2018.
“We’ve had a very long selection and trial process, so I believe we have assembled a squad capable of challenging for the title next week,” said Paewai after finalizing the squad over the weekend, “We have a great mix of youth and experience, with over half the squad having played at national level through the Ripken (U13) team.
“We (the selection panel) made sure all players who took the field during the recent Goodwill Series got plenty of action to not only prove themselves, but also to ensure they were ‘game ready’ for this very important tournament,” said Paewai.
At least three Major League Baseball scouts are expected to attend the Oceania Championships, and Baseball New Zealand CEO Ryan Flynn said, “This is an important age group for baseball as it is when we see young players beginning to develop their game and build on the basic fundamentals they’ve been taught since first playing the game at a young age.
“Scouts and college coaches begin to project young players at this age grade, and we’re starting to see a nice core group of players whose first sport is baseball come together in this country,” said Flynn, adding that he is hopeful of a strong performance from this group that leads to a trip to the U15 World Championship in late July in Panama for this team. New Zealand has competed in the last two U15 World Championship events in Mexico in 2014 and Japan in 2016.
Following trials in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, an extended squad was named by national coaches, and then was trimmed down to 38 prior to last week’s series against an American Goodwill team in Auckland before the final roster was named on Saturday.
Final Roster
Name Club/Region
| Angus King | Sydney, Australia |
| Ayden Hammond | Porirua Bombers, Wellington |
| Caelen Hetaraka | Orewa Sharks, Auckland |
| Chayton Krauss | Pennsylvania, USA |
| Christos Lyberopoulos | Sydney, Australia |
| Cooper Grant | Nelson Heat |
| Harrison Lough | North Shore City, Auckland |
| Jacob Davidson | Selwyn Baseball, Christchurch |
| Keanu Cowley | Sydney, Australia |
| Liam Krauss | Pennsylvania, USA |
| Noah Sea-Nui | Porirua Bombers, Wellington |
| Oly Collier | Bayside-Westhaven, Auckland |
| Pharell Peni | Melbourne, Australia |
| Rikihana Love | Porirua Bombers, Wellington |
| Taylor Irwin | Counties Baseball, Auckland |
| Traye Wildbore | Howick-Pakuranga, Auckland |
| Tui Amosa | Howick-Pakuranga, Auckland |
| Tane Mumu | Hutt Valley Hornets, Wellington |
| Zaid Flynn | Orewa Sharks, Auckland |
| Ciaran Bolger | P K Pirates, Wellington |
The following six players have also been named as alternates.
| Ingram Leger | Bayside-Westhaven, Auckland |
| Reegan Lawton | Nelson Heat |
| Jahquai Armstrong-Briggs | Hamilton Raiders |
| Hiroki Yasue | North Shore City, Auckland |
| Eli Lesoa | Howick-Pakuranga, Auckland |
| Zach Dawson | Orewa Sharks, Auckland |
Head Coach – Riki Paewai
Pitching Coach – D J Carrasco
Asst Coach – Kris Richards
Asst Coach – Dan Tan
Asst Coach - Jonathon Southey
The team assembles on Thursday (11 Jan) for camp before breaking on Saturday for the ABA All Star Game in Hamilton, and the team will stay in camp till the end of the tournament on 21 January at Lloyd Elsmore Park in Pakuranga for their final training camp. The tournament begins at 10.00am on Thursday 18 January and will be live streamed by Baseball New Zealand and its partners.
