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 ...
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 importan ...
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 ...
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
Australian 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 Mo ...
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 municipality (''municipio'') in the Dominican Republic and the capital of the San Pedro de Macorís province in the east region of the country; it is among the 10 largest cities of the Dominican Republic. 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 with ...
, 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 w ...
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 of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Jews of the Old Yishuv, and became a permanent s ...
, the
Yarkon Sports Complex is home to the Express as well as the
Petach Tikva Pioneers 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
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