Team Canada Adds Dartmouth Trio for World Baseball Challenge

The best amateur baseball teams in the world will head to Prince George, B.C. from July 7-18. They’ll be joined by three veteran members of the Dartmouth Moosehead Dry.

Last year’s N.S. Senior Baseball League MVP, Joel Irvine; home run and RBI leader, Darren Doucette; and 2008 league MVP, Chris Head have been asked to don the Team Canada jersey by coaches, Scott MacKenzie and David Laing. The two coaches have known the players for quite some time and helped lead their Burnaby Bulldogs to the Canadian Senior Baseball Championship held in Dartmouth last Aug. The Bulldogs defeated the Dry 1-0 for the gold medal in one of the finest baseball games ever witnessed in the province.

Competition will be tight as Canada will be up against Cuba National team, ranked #1 in the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) amateur world rankings; the #2 ranked United States; and #3, Japan. The tournament will aslo play host to strong baseball teams from the Bahamas, Taiwan, and the Beijing Tigers, the highest ranked team in that China. Cuba and Japan will be seeded at the top for the tournament.

The World Baseball Challenge is co-sponsored by the Toronto Blue Jays and the City of Prince George and is held every two years. The tournament is considered one of the most prestigious in the world and the caliber of teams, improving each year, supports its lofty stature.

Doucette, recently retired Dry pitcher Jason Bailey, and Halifax pitcher Barrett Bellefontaine attended the tournament in 2009 when Prince George entered its own team.