The Ra'anana Express ( he, רעננה אקספרס) was an Israeli

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team from

Ra'anana Ra'anana ( he, רַעֲנָנָּה, lit. "Fresh") is a city in the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District of Israel. It was founded in 1922 as an American-Jewish settlement, 1 km south of the village of Tabsur, where an important ...

in the now-defunct

Israel Baseball League The Israel Baseball League (IBL; Hebrew: ליגת הבייסבול הישראלית, ''Ligat ha-Beisbol ha-Israelit'') was a six-team professional baseball league in Israel. The first game was played on June 24, 2007. League structure The six ...

. The Express finished the inaugural 2007 season in fifth place, 17-24 (.415), and lost to the

Netanya Tigers The Netanya Tigers ( he, נתניה טייגרס) was an Israeli baseball team from Netanya in the Israel Baseball League. The Tigers finished the inaugural 2007 season in fourth place, 19-21 (.475), and were defeated by the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox i ...

in the quarterfinals of the 2007 championship.

History

In 2007 the team was managed by Australian Shaun Smith. The first player selected by the Express in the inaugural 2007 draft was

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n pitcher John Thew. The team's first game was played against the

Tel Aviv Lightning The Tel Aviv Lightning ( he, תל אביב לייטנינג) was an Israeli baseball team from Tel Aviv in the Israel Baseball League. The Lightning finished the inaugural 2007 season in second place with a 26-14 (.650) record, and lost to the M ...

on June 24, 2007, at the Sportek in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. Starting pitcher Esequier Pie, from

San Pedro de Macorís San Pedro de Macorís is a city and Municipalities of the Dominican Republic, municipality (''municipio'') in the Dominican Republic and the capital of the San Pedro de Macorís Province, San Pedro de Macorís province in the east region of the ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

, threw two

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

s in the 2007 season.

Stadium

Located in the Baptist Village in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of ...

, the

Yarkon Sports Complex The Yarkon Sports Complex, is located in the Baptist Village in Petah Tikva, just outside Tel Aviv. The field was used in the 2007 season of the Israel Baseball League. During this season, both the Petach Tikva Pioneers The Petach Tikva Pioneers ...

is home to the Express as well as the

Petach Tikva Pioneers The Petach Tikva Pioneers ( he, פתח תקווה פיונירס) was an Israeli baseball team from Petah Tikva in the Israel Baseball League. They finished the inaugural 2007 regular season in last place (9-32; .220), and lost to the Modi'in Mi ...

and the Israeli national baseball team.

2007 roster

External links

Official site of the Ra'anana ExpressSouth Florida Ra'anana Express Fan Club

Footnotes

Baseball teams in Israel {{Asia-baseball-team-stub