Hi, my name is Eric Balnar, it's so nice to meet you!
I am a play-by-play broadcaster, writer and media manager for Australian baseball, softball and ice hockey
I currently commentate games for the Australian Baseball League, Baseball Australia national tournaments, the Adelaide Giants, the Softball South Australia Premier League, the Adelaide Adrenaline and the Australian Ice Hockey League.
I am an award-winning broadcaster, calling games in Australia for 10 years.
I am also a writer. Samples of my work can be found on this site.
I work as the broadcast, media and content coordinator for Baseball in Australia. From writing, social media, traditional media, coverage and beyond, I give a voice to major Australian baseball stories. This includes the professional competition to the grassroots. Some examples of my work can be found on this site.
I cover, and run social media accounts for, Team Australia Baseball, Baseball.com.au, and the Australian Baseball League
In my first year in the role, we reached 11.7 million accounts on Facebook (106% increase), 4.2 million on Instagram (74% increase) and 42.6 million impressions on X (287% increase). Web traffic is up, and we've grown our subscribers on our online streaming platform to over 45,000.
Born and raised in Canada, I moved to Australia in 2014. I'm now an Australian citizen.
I'm an award winning broadcast games for audiences all around the world on Fox Sports, NBC Regional Sports, AT&T SportsNet, Kayo, SBS, NITV, Channell 44, Channel 31, ondemand.baseball.com.au and other digital platforms. I've also called international baseball for the English feed at the 2023 Asian Professional Baseball Championships.
I've also broadcast national hockey for Adelaide Adrenaline and the Australian Ice Hockey League and the Adelaide Avalanche of the PHL.
I'm a sports storyteller, media manager, writer and communicator. From February 2023, I covered Team Australia at the World Baseball Classic working as the digital content and media lead. I cover the Adelaide Giants in the Australian Baseball League and the competition as a whole.
Outside of the broadcast booth, I live an active lifestyle filled with camping trips, hikes around the world, surfing, golf and salsa dancing.
I look forward to meeting you!