National pride isn’t the only reason Cambridge residents should tune into the World Baseball Classic next week.
Local right-handed pitcher Noah Skirrow is one of 30 players that will represent Canada at the tournament.
While the pitching rotation remains flexible, Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt said earlier this week that his plan is to start Skirrow in Game 3 against Colombia.
Skirrow has flown through the Philadelphia Phillies minor league system since signing as an undrafted free agent in 2020 out of Liberty University in Virginia.
The Cambridge native split the 2022 season between the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils and the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Making four starts for Lehigh Valley, the 24-year-old posted a 3.00 ERA over 21 innings pitched.
To open Spring Training, he worked a scoreless inning in the Phillies 4-2 loss to Detroit back on Feb 25.
Now he's set to trade in the red and white of the Phillies for the red and white of Team Canada.
Canada will play their Pool C games at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz., home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and will open the tournament on March 12 against Great Britain.
They’ll round out the round robin portion of their schedule with games against USA on March 13, Colombia on March 14 and Mexico on March 15.