Yes, they work on the same principle. The only factors that need to be changed are the height of release of the ball, the angle of the release, and the speed of the launch.
Work is defined as force times distance. If you move something over 2 meters, and you need a force of 15 N for doing that, you'll deliver 30 Joules of work.
the work a machine does is the work outputwhat it takes to do the work is the work input Sources; http://wiki.answers.com/Q/The_work_that_the_simple_machine_does_is_called_the_work#ixzz1XBOCqF6K