Troy baseball addition Blake Cavill has played baseball everywhere. Cavill – a Sydney, Australia native – has played against the Savannah Bananas and competed in the Little League World series, among other experiences.
Now, he’s traveling to Shaoxing City, China to compete for Team Australia in the U-23 World Cup this September.
“It’s an incredible experience to be part of the Australian national team,” said Cavill, who has also competed in the U-15 and U-18 World Cups. “I get to meet back up with all my buddies I haven’t seen in a few years and compete for a medal.”
After starting his collegiate career at Northwest Florida State College, Cavill transferred to Western Kentucky, where he led the team in batting average and on-base percentage in 2024.
“I just googled ‘best American JUCOs, and Northwest Florida came up,” Cavill said. “In the next few days, I had a full scholarship and flew over a few weeks later.”
Despite there being many differences between baseball in Australia and America, the infielder has seen success. He tallied a 1.022 OPS during the 2023 season for the Raiders.
“Coming to America and playing in college, everyone is the same age,” Cavill said. “That was a bit of a shock because we never really do that in Australia.”
When he was younger, Cavill played in the Australian baseball league and played on the same team as 12-time MLB All-Star Manny Ramirez in 2020-2021.
“You learn to mature really quickly because you start playing with grown men when you’re 15,” Cavill said. “It was incredible playing with Manny Ramirez.”
The left-handed batter has multiple big-league connections. Peter Moylan, a reliever who had a 12-year career with the Atlanta Braves and Kansas City Royals, is Cavill’s godfather.
Cavill’s father, Matthew, created a team called the Aussie Drop Bears that has faced off against the Savannah Bananas. Cavill said playing against the Bananas reinvented how he saw baseball and allowed him to have more fun on the field.
“There’s 20,000 fans every game, dancing and backflip catches,” Cavill said. “That experience is once in a lifetime, and I’m glad I got to be a part of it.
“I like to play with fun -a lot of attitude and a lot of excitement - so playing Banana ball really helped me.”
Cavill expressed excitement about playing for the Trojans this season.
“I thought Troy was just a great environment,” Cavill said. “I got to speak with Brooks Bryan this year in the Cape Cod league and heard about how great Troy was.
“I’m excited to win this year, and the team looks really good.”
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