Larkin’s Brazil squad ready for Brooklyn qualifier

NEW YORK — Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin is back at it as manager of Team Brazil. It’s his second time around, and in November 2012, his team survived the World Baseball Classic qualifying bracket in Panama City, Panama, only to be eliminated six months later after losing all three 2013 WBC games in Pool A in Fukuoka, Japan.

Reconstituted Brazil will have to qualify again. The Brazilians are in the Brooklyn bracket this weekend with Israel, Great Britain and Pakistan at MCU Park, the home of the Mets’ Class A Brooklyn Cyclones, set right off the boardwalk on Coney Island.

Brazil opens the modified double-elimination tournament on Thursday with a 12 p.m. ET start against Pakistan.

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The winner will join the elite final 16 next March and travel to Seoul, South Korea, for Pool B play against host South Korea, Chinese Taipei and the Netherlands.

In 2013, Brazil was the surprise of its qualifier, which opened four years ago Tuesday.

“It was a fantastic experience,” Larkin recently told MLB.com about his team’s unexpected success. “We had a few of our players of Japanese descent. It was a great experience for the players. It was a great experience for me.”

This time, the goal is get back to the main field of teams and proceed beyond the first round. Larkin said it was important to pick his own coaches. Last time he didn’t, and there was no one with any big league experience. This week, Larkin will have the support of two former Major League players — Steve Finley and LaTroy Hawkins — as his hitting coach and pitching coach, respectively.

“I think that was the biggest thing that we have some coaches that had some experience in what to say and work with the players, some big league experience,” Larkin said. “I think it would have been a different outcome if we had that in 2013.

“Those guys will be able to help and make some in-game contributions to the guys. …

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