Qualifier 1 of the Qualifying Round of the

2013 World Baseball Classic The 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, held from March 2 to March 19, 2013. This was the third iteration of the WBC, following the two previous tournaments, held in 2006 and 2009. Unlike ...

was held at

Roger Dean Stadium Roger Dean Stadium (officially known as Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium) is a baseball stadium located in the Abacoa community of the town of Jupiter, Florida. The stadium was built in 1998, holds 6,871 people, and features luxury sky-box seating, ...

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandt ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

from September 19 to 23, 2012. Qualifier 1 was a modified double-elimination tournament. The winners for the first games matched up in the second game, while the losers faced each other in an elimination game. The winner of the elimination game then played the loser of the non-elimination game in another elimination game. The remaining two teams then played each other to determine the winner of the Qualifier 1. Team Israel, under the Classic's rules, was entitled to have non-Israeli citizens of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

heritage play for the team. The players who qualified to play on the Israeli team included major leaguers catcher

Ryan Lavarnway Ryan Cole Lavarnway ( ריאן לווארנוויי; born August 7, 1987) is an American-Israeli professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Oriol ...

, first baseman

Ike Davis Isaac Benjamin Davis (born March 22, 1987) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. From 2010 through 2016, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, and New York Ya ...

, second basemen Ian Kinsler and Josh Satin, third basemen Kevin Youkilis and

Danny Valencia Daniel Paul Valencia (דני ולנסיה; born September 19, 1984) is an American-Israeli professional baseball player who currently plays for the Israeli national baseball team. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota ...

, outfielders Ryan Braun (whose father is Israeli), Sam Fuld, Ryan Kalish, and

Gabe Kapler Gabriel Stefan Kapler (born July 31, 1975), nicknamed "Kap", is an American former professional baseball outfielder, and current manager of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). Kapler was a 57th-round draft pick (1,487th ove ...

, and pitchers Jason Marquis, Scott Feldman,

Craig Breslow Craig Andrew Breslow (pronounced BREHZ-loh; born August 8, 1980) is an American baseball executive and former professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball. He is currently the Assistant General Manager/Vice President, Director of Pitch ...

, and John Grabow, as well as what were then recent major leaguers catcher Brad Ausmus and pitcher Scott Schoeneweis. Kinsler said:

"Wow, I would be happy to play for Team Israel.... The truth is that if a proposal comes from Team USA to play for them, I will have a very difficult decision to make. Yuk evin Youkilis Braun yan Braun and I could make a fantastic team. I am sure that I'll talk it over with Yuk – we always laugh about things like this."

Outfielder

Shawn Green Shawn David Green (born November 10, 1972) is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder. Green was a 1st round draft pick and a two-time major league All-Star. He drove in 100 runs four times and scored 100 runs four times, hit ...

, who retired in 2007, was also eligible inasmuch as he is Jewish, and said in early June 2011 that assuming it works out, it "would be an honor" and he "would love to" play for Israel in the Classic. Because they were held in September, however, with the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

season still in progress, Qualifiers 1 and 2 could not feature major league players such as the above ones who qualified to play for Team Israel. Kevin Youkilis announced that he would play for the team if they made it past the qualifying round. The highest-level players involved in Qualifiers 1 and 2 were minor-league prospects ranked among the top 20 in their respective organizations. Team Israel, managed by former major league All Star Brad Ausmus and coached by former major leaguer

, included minor league pitchers Eric Berger (1–0) and Brett Lorin, first baseman Nate Freiman (.417; 4 HR in 12 AB), second baseman Josh Satin (.273), shortstops

Jake Lemmerman Jacob Samuel Lemmerman is a former minor league baseball shortstop who is a free agent. Lemmerman was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 5th round of the 2010 MLB Draft out of Duke University. In his debut season that year playing for ...

and

Ben Orloff Ben Orloff (born April 26, 1987) is an American baseball coach and former shortstop, who is the current head baseball coach of the UC Irvine Anteaters. He played college baseball at UC Irivine for head coach Mike Gillespie, where he won the ...

, and outfielders Adam Greenberg, Ben Guez,

Joc Pederson Joc Russell Pederson ( ; born April 21, 1992) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and Atlanta Br ...

(.308), and

Robbie Widlansky Robert Eric Widlansky (born November 6, 1984) is a former professional baseball outfielder who played internationally for the Israel national baseball team. In college, he won the Sun Belt Conference batting title his senior season, with a Flor ...

. Also, retired major leaguer

played for Israel (.333). In Qualifier 1, Israel and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

both won easily in the first round. Israel then beat Spain in the winner's bracket. Spain then eliminated

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

to earn a rematch with Israel. Spain won the winner-take-all final game, 9–7 in 10 innings, to advance to the main tournament.

Bracket

Results

*All times are

Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a sma ...

( UTC−04:00).

Israel 7, South Africa 3

Spain 8, France 0

Israel 4, Spain 2

South Africa 5, France 2

Spain 13, South Africa 3

Spain 9, Israel 7

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2013 World Baseball Classic - Qualifier 1 Qualifier 1 World Baseball Classic - Qualifier 1 Baseball in Florida International baseball competitions hosted by the United States International sports competitions in Florida Jupiter, Florida World Baseball Classic - Qualifier 1