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Tournaments | Story | 10/1/2024

Return Trip to States for Australia's Gardiner

Hannah Jo Groves

Photo: Caesar Gardiner (Perfect Game)

Sitting down in the grass after a scrimmage in the hot, Florida sun, 17-year-old Caesar Gardiner from Kippa-Ring, Australia eats lunch with his Team Australia teammates.

They’re in Fort Myers, Florida, for a few exhibition matches and for the 2024 PG WWBA Underclass World Championship. This is only the second time that Gardiner has been to the states.

“The journey was pretty long,” Gardiner said. “There was a couple of long flights. I think we had a 15 or 16-hour flight over here, a layover in Dallas and then a little two-hour flight to Fort Myers.”

“On the plane, I just watch movies and try to waste as much time as I can. And sleep. That’s about it.”

Gardiner shared that his teammates were on the plane with him - calling it a “bonding flight.”

“I know all these guys. These are the boys. You know, get in there, play with them all the time. It’s great… We’re just a bunch of good blokes. We deserve to be here and we work hard.”

As the team quietly ate their lunch in the grass of the 5Plex Player Development Center, Caesar entertained them with by confessing the most difficult part of the game for him:

“Right now, it’s probably hitting the ball,” Gardiner admitted, met by a good bit of laughter from his teammates. “That [last] game, I did not hit the ball that great. So, back to the drawing board, I guess. [I’ll] try to figure out what’s up.”

“Training-wise, back home we have a program called High Performance Training. You get in the gym once a week, then you have about two on-field sessions and then after that, it’s really up to you what you want to do with extra training.”

Though this is only his second trip to the states for baseball, Gardiner said he definitely plans on being in the US more frequently in the future.

“I aspire to be an MLB player one day,” Gardiner shared. “It’s just going to take a lot of hard work.”

PERFECTGAME.TV