The New Zealand Baseball Federation has announced that 18 Canterbury baseball players have made their national squads across four age groups.

Five players have been named to the New Zealand U-13 (A) national team:

• Joshua Chu-Tan (Burnside High School)
• Jesse Donnelly (St Thomas of Canterbury College)
• Anthony Grant (Kaiapoi Borough School)
• Jonathon Rayner (Westburn School)
• Stefan Warnaar (Westburn School).

This is a 150% increase in the number of players over last year. In 2005, Joshua and Anthony played for the national team in the Asia-Pacific Little League Tournament in Kitakyushu, Japan.

This year the national team will be competing at the Oceania Invitational Tournament to be held in Auckland during the Easter school holidays.

Three players have been named to the New Zealand U-15 (AA) national team:

• Kristoffer Batchelor C/IF
• Chris Ballinger P/IF
• Jason Drost OF

Presumably they know where they are going, because the NZBF hasn't announced that information. Keep a close eye on the NZBF website for an update.

Two players have been named to the New Zealand U-18 (AAA) national team:

• Mark Harbott IF/OF
• Leigh Ryman OF

The U-18 team will be playing a five-game series against Australia on the Gold Coast from the 21st to the 23rd of April.

Eight players have been named to the New Zealand Senior national team:

• Scott Woyak OF
• Tak Inagawa IF/OF
• David Roche DH/1B/3B
• Stephen Phillips C/OF
• Sam Ballinger P
• Joshua Batchelor P/OF
• Chad Denny P/OF
• Justin Holcroft IF

The senior team will play in the Australian Provincial Tournament from 16th to the 22nd of April in Auckland.