Geelong-Korea will go against Sydney in the Australia ABL on November 26 at North Harbour Stadium. It seemed as though baseball had finally made it to New Zealand when the Auckland Tuatara fell to the Melbourne Aces 6-2 in their second playoff game played at home on February 1, 2020. Even though the Tuatara didn’t advance to the Australian Baseball League championship on that particular day, over the course of that season—which had started with only a few hundred fans attending games—they showed that there is a market for the sport in this country by drawing more than 4,000 spectators to North Harbour Stadium. But Covid-19 then struck.
After the Tuatara abruptly walked out of the league the next season, angering ABL officials, who threatened to permanently banish them from the league, the whole league was shut down for the 2021–22 season. The Tuatara will return to New Zealand on Friday night for the first game of a four-game series against the Sydney Blue Sox, 1027 days after their last game there. Our eagerness to play baseball in Albany once more is palpable.
CEO of Tuatara Regan Wood remarked, “You’d have to have rocks in your brain not to be. Wood understands that the team’s prior supporters won’t necessarily return after the country of New Zealand went two years and nine months without any professional baseball. Because we’re out of sight and out of mind, he added, “It’s going to be incredibly challenging.” We recognize that we have reached a dead end and are not shocked by it. Winning baseball is what will help draw fans back, and manager Steve Mintz is confident that this year’s roster, which features a few players with MLB experience as well as some promising prospects, can be a successful one.
Sydney | Auckland |
Jeremy Atkinson | Atsuki Taneichi |
Travis Bazzana | Ben Runyon |
Taylor Bloye | Brandon Marklund |
Blake Cavill | Chen Yu-Hsuan |
Shayne Fogorty | Duncan Izaaks |
Todd Grattan | Elliot Johnstone |
Josh Guyer | Emerson Martinez |
Liam McCallum | Hever Bueno |
Andrew Mitchell | Jared Koenig |
Date | Opponent | Score | Result |
25.11.22 | Sydney | 2-1 | Win |
20.11.22 | Canberra | 0-8 | Win |
19.11.22 | Canberra | 13-3 | Win |
18.11.22 | Canberra | 3-6 | Loss |
17.11.22 | Canberra | 5-8 | Win |
Date | Opponent | Score | Result |
25.11.22 | Auckand | 2-1 | Loss |
20.11.22 | Brisbane | 5-7 | Loss |
19.11.22 | Brisbane | 0-6 | Loss |
19.11.22 | Brisbane | 3-5 | Loss |
18.11.22 | Brisbane | 3-1 | Win |
Date | Match | Score | Winner |
25.11.22 | Auckland Sydney | 2 1 | Auckland |
12.01.20 | Auckland Sydney | 2 16 | Auckland |
11.01.20 | Auckland Sydney | 1 2 | Auckland |
10.01.20 | Auckland Sydney | 12 4 | Sydney |
09.01.20 | Auckland Sydney | 0 7 | Auckland |
Auckland vs Sydney Australia ABL game will be held on November 26, 7:00 PM (International Time) and 11:30 AM (Indian Time) at North Harbour Stadium. The audience can live stream the match on FOX SPORTS 507, Kayo Sports, and theABL.com.au. There, you may watch the entire live event.
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