MEDIA ALERT - Australia vs Mexico in WBC TODAY, March 12 @ 12.00pm AEST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

12 March, 2009

The Australian Baseball Team will play Team Mexico TODAY at 12.00pm AEST on March 12, in their third game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic, 

Today's game is the last chance Australia will have to advance through to the next round in San Diego, after a disappointing loss to the Cubans last night (5-4).

Team Australia played Mexico in their first game of the 2009 Classic, defeating them 17-7, invoking the mercy rule, and setting a new WBC record for the most hits (22). Australian Manager Jon Deeble is confident that his team can produce a repeat of Sunday night's game.

The starting pitcher for Team Australia in Game 3 is David Welch.

David Welch recorded a career-high 11 wins, 95 strikeouts and 147.2 innings, tying for second in the league in wins in his first season in Double-A Hunstville in 2008….He was a 2008 Southern League Mid Season All-Star and Pitcher of the Week ending 6/9/08. In 2008 he had 8 hits (3)2B, & 8 RBI – a solid effort by a pitcher. He made a career-high 29 appearances (20 starts) for Single-A Advanced Brevard County in 2007….Spent 2006 with Single-A West Virginia, recording 10.0 innings over 25 games with 16 starts in his first full professional season. He was selected by Milwaukee in the 20th round of the 2005 MLB First-Year Player Draft. INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE: played in 2007 World Cup.

Games are being broadcast LIVE on www.mlb.com (links can be found at www.worldbaseballclassic.com) and also on the ESPN network.

For all press and game information visit www.mlbpressbox.com - this will include all pre-game quotes, statistics, line-ups, images etc.

Getty Images are the official photographers of the 2009 Classic.

For further information or to arrange post-game interviews, please call Jennifer Stockman on + 1202 280 0485 or email Jennifer.Stockman@baseball.org.au