• Australian baseball rules follow many of those of its American cousin.baseball image by Tomasz Plawski from Fotolia.com
  
  Baseball has been played in Australia since 1857 when it first pitched up in Melbourne. It soon spread to Sydney and caught the country's imagination when American equipment manufacturer, A.G. Spalding Esq., brought two professional teams to Australia in 1888, according to the Australian Baseball official website. It follows the same rules to its American cousin but is governed by the International Baseball Federation.
  
  

The teams

• Baseball is played by two teams of nine players, according to the Australian Baseball official website. Each team takes turns to bat and has nine innings or until all their batsmen are out to get as many runs as they can.
  
  

Pitch size

• The Australian baseball field is made up of an infield and an outfield. The batsman and pitcher are stationed in the infield and the other eight fielders stationed around the pitch. One is behind the batter, three are on the bases and three further afield. The pitcher throws the ball with varying degrees of spin and pace for the batsman to hit. The infield also incorporates the diamond that covers the three field bases and home base. This diamond must be 27.5 meters square and the nearest boundary must be a minimum of 76 meters from the apex of the diamond. This differs from the US, where professional rules dictate there must be a 99-meter minimum of outfield playing surface.
  
  

Equipment requirements

• The baseball bat must have a diameter of no more than seven centimeters at its thickest point, according to the Australian Baseball website. It must not exceed 107 centimeters in length. The ball must be made of white horse hide sewn over a sphere of rubber or cork. It must have a diameter of 22.9 to 23.5 centimeters and weigh 142 to 149 grams. It is thrown from 18 meters.
  
  

Scoring

• Australian baseball is played by two teams. A team scores a run when one player hits a shot and runs round the three infield bases to get back to the home base, where he hit his shot from. A home run is when a batter hits the ball out of the ground but inside foul lines or far enough away that he can run round all three bases without the fielding side getting the ball back to the base the batter is running to. If he hits it outside foul lines he must retake the shot. A grand slam homer, which counts for four runs, is scored when the batter and three players who are already safely on base all reach home base.
  
  

Getting a batter out

• A batsman is out when the ball is returned to a fielder on the base where the batsman is running to or when he is caught by a fielder. If the batter fails to hit a ball thrown within a set area, or if he hits it outside of the field of play, it is called a strike. If the batter collects three strikes, he is retired. A batter can also be out if a defensive player touches him with a held ball while he is running between bases, according to the International Baseball Federation website. The team with the most runs during its nine innings is the winner.