South Africa
Great Britain
Photo courtesy of the WBSC
The Great Britain U23s picked up their first victory of the WBSC U23 Baseball World Cup presented by RAXUS on 9 November with a 5-3, rain shortened, come-from-behind victory over South Africa. Charlie Collins led Great Britain’s offence with a three-run home run and four runs batted in.
Quinn Allen was called for double duty, serving as both starting pitcher and designated hitter, and tossed a perfect first to kick off the contest, before his offence gave him the lead. Jake Lambdin led off the bottom of the inning by getting hit by a pitch, and stole second, before scoring on a single by Sean Benjamin and a South African error. A walk to Cole Leclair and another hit batter, this time Jackson Kraemer, loaded the bases with two out, but South Africa were able to escape the jam trailing by only one.
Allen tossed another 1-2-3 inning in the second and Andrew Johnston led off the bottom half with single, reaching second on a bunt-and-error combo with one out. He advanced to third on a groundout before Charlie Collins smashed an RBI triple of the top of the right field wall to double the GBR advantage, 2-0.
Manager Jonathon Cramman called to the bullpen to start the third, and Eddie Taylor was summoned, A pair of walks, a wild pitch and a groundout put runners on the corners, and a soft groundout to first – upheld by video review – scored South Africa’s first run. An infield single and a stolen base but two runners in scoring position for familiar foe Darian Pretorius, whose bloop single gave South Africa the 3-2 advantage. A pitching change brought Cam Moore to the hill, who was able to end the inning without any further damage.
GBR were retired in order in the home half of the third, and South Africa pressed the advantage again in the fourth, putting runners on the corners with one out, but Moore punched out back-to back batters to end the threat.
Allen – still in the game as designated hitter – led off the GBR fourth with a single and Lambdin joined him on base after being hit again, putting two aboard with two out for Collins, who launched a three-run home run into the rainy Nicaraguan night to give GBR the lead again, 5-3.
South Africa threatened again n the fifth as the rain intensified. With two on and two out, a wild pitch, assisted by the wet conditions, put both runners in scoring position, and Moore ran the count full to Aydee Osman, before firing a pitch over the outside corner to strike him out and end the inning.
Then the heavens opened and the game was called.
With the victory, GBR improves to 1-2 on the tournament, and heads to Estadio Nacional Soberania in Managua for the first time as Group B play continues against South Korea. First pitch set for 20:00 GMT/14:00 local time on 9 November. The 2026 WBSC U23 Baseball World Cup can be watched on gametime.sport.
For the latest news and notes from the 2026 WBSC U23 Baseball World Cup and more, make sure to follow Great Britain Baseball on Facebook, gb_baseball on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, TikTok at @gbbaseball, and on the British Baseball Federation Website, britishbaseball.org.uk.