President's Report 2024
Another year in the books for Sydney Uni Baseball Club, and what a year it was.
Celebrating our 120th year, the strength of our club was characterised by the welcoming of an international influx of new players to both our Sydney Winter Baseball League and Pacific Coast Baseball League teams, and an eagerness from those joining the club in 2024 to be involved behind the scenes.
Our 2nd and 3rd Grade SWBL teams came home with trophies on grand final day, defeating Castle Hill 8-2 and Quakers Hill 4-1 respectively. Club Head Coach Mitch Liddle again managed a roster through the grades and provided guidance to team coaches Rob Giallombardo and Jeff Craft (Second Grade), and Lachlan Arford and Tim Nelson (Third Grade). SWBL award winners included Gustavo Landin (2nd Grade MVP), Mitch Liddle (3rd Grade MVP and Batting Award), Riley Puckett (2nd Grade Grand Final MVP) and Gabe Quoyle (3rd Grade Grand Final MVP).
For the first time in around 10 years, the club fielded a second PCBL team in the winter competition. This coincided with an influx of new Sydney Uni student players, many whom have not played in Australia before. Anthony Carroll and Matt Jones deserve credit for the hard work in fielding teams each week. Much like our 1st grade team, they narrowly missed finals contention with a few key moments through the season going against them.
Due to the interest from our student cohort hitting decades high numbers at over a quarter of our club members across all teams, club secretary Sam Zhang put together a student led team into a summer competition. A mix of experience and youthful energy, it has been a great pleasure seeing this team come together over the summer months and develop their skills.
Continuing on the student theme, we had 3 members receive Sydney Uni sports scholarships in 2024. Zak Elvy was awarded the David Hynes Scholarship and Vance Borland Scholarship, Sam Zhang the Ron and Jennie Finlay Scholarship, and Jeff Siemms an Elite Athlete Program scholarship. Zak Elvy also went on to represent Team Australia in the Under 23 World Cup tournament in China in September.
Other Sydney Uni Baseball players have gone on to achieve representative accolades in 2024. On top of our growing cohort of players who are now playing college ball in the US, this year saw Adam Bates develop his craft on the mound in the Boston Red Sox organisation, and Lachlan Brook get regular innings in the ongoing Australian Baseball League season for the Sydney Blue Sox.
With 2024 in the books, I'd like to thanks the club's board, committee members and coaches for their ongoing commitment to the club to keep our record on and off the field as strong as ever. I'd like to thank the parents, wives, girlfriends and other supporters for being there for the players and the club, seen wonderfully this year when we raised over $1000 for the Smith Family on our annual Community Day. Lastly, I'd like to acknowledge Josh Goldsmith, who has decided to hang up the boots after many fly balls chased down and well over 200 first grade hits – something that he loves to let you know. I'm saddened to see Goldy retire not just for his ongoing on-field contributions, but his retirement now makes me the most tenured Cynic, which seems difficult to comprehend as I still remember my first interaction with the club at Welcome Week 2008.
See below for a list of our 2024 SUBC Presentation Night award winners, and see you on the field in 2025.
Cheers,
Ben Warnock
President, SUBC
Club Awards
The Jack Mould Club MVP - Lachlan Brook
The Club Gold Glove - Daisuke Nakasuji
The David Hynes Club Batting Champion - Gustavo Landin
The Wade Shipard Playoffs MVP - Gabe Quoyle
The Swan XBH Champion - Daisuke Nakasuji
The Jennie Finlay Encouragement Award - Sam Zhang
The Stump - Josh Goldsmith
Team Awards
SWBL 1st Grade
Most Valuable Player - Lachlan Brook
Player’s Player - Christopher Douglass
Gold Glove - Daisuke Nakasuji
Batting Award - Christopher Douglass
2nd Grade
Most Valuable Player - Gustavo Landin
Player’s Player - Lachlan Arford
Gold Glove - Ethan Clugston
Batting Award - Gustavo Landin
3rd Grade
Most Valuable Player - Mitchell Liddle
Player’s Player - Gabe Quoyle
Gold Glove - Ben Warnock
Batting Award - Mitchell Liddle
PCBL Div 1
Most Valuable Player - Steve Watts
Player’s Player - Jean Ahn
Gold Glove - Sam Rips
Batting Award - Nick Greenwood
Div 2
Most Valuable Player - Tyson Crocker
Player’s Player - Casimir Riogi
Gold Glove - Sam Zhang
Batting Award - Edward Carpentier