Sprechen Sie 'Baseball'? Koperniak Joins British Team in Germany
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Hoosac Valley graduate and London, England, native Matt Koperniak this week was assigned to Great Britain's team in the qualifier for the World Baseball Classic.
Koperniak, who is coming off a strong summer with the St. Louis Cardinals' Double A affiliate in Springfield, Mo., was assigned to Great Britain on Tuesday, one day after the Springfield Cardinals placed him on the "temporarily inactive list" with six games left in the regular season.
Great Britain's national team is in Germany this week to play in a six-team tournament that gets underway on Friday.
The British team's opener against France is at 10 a.m. 1 p.m. EDT and is available on MLB.TV or worldbaseballclassic.com and the World Baseball Classic YouTube page.
Two teams from the double-elimination tournament in Regensburg, Germany, will advance to the 20-team draw in March's World Baseball Classic, the first since 2017.
The Classic, which will be played in the U.S., Taiwan and Japan, is waiting on four qualifiers -- two from Germany's Pool A and two from another six-team pool that plays in Panama at the end of the month.
Pool A, which is set to conclude on Wednesday, includes the Czech Republic, Spain, France, South Africa and host Germany.
A three-sport star for the Hurricanes in high school, Koperniak went on to Trinity College before signing with the Cardinals as a free agent in June 2020.
His amateur days included two seasons, 2018 and '19, with the North Adams SteepleCats.
In 106 games in the outfield this summer with Springfield, Koperniak hit .288 with 14 home runs, 13 doubles, 59 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 15 attempts.
