The Tribune

THE Bahamas continues to prove itself as a regional powerhouse in PONY League Baseball with another second place finish at the PONY Colt Division Caribbean Championships.

A spirited run at the gold medal came up just short for the Bahamas at the tournament after a 10-2 loss to host country Puerto Rico in the championship game.

Following several hours of rain delays which led to two venue changes, the game eventually took place at Yabucoa Professional Stadium.

The delays continued after the first inning when the game was stopped and moved to yet another location because of heavy rain.

Over the course of the first three innings, the Bahamas failed to capitalise on four runners in scoring position and was never able to recover.

With two outs in the third inning, an error extended the inning for Puerto Rico when they built a five run lead.

Starting pitcher Ian Myers finished with three hits, one hit shy of a cycle with a single, double and triple, while Quinton Rolle and Donavon Cox each added a hit.

The Bahamas advanced to the gold medal game with a dominant 11-5 win over the Dominican Republic.

The game began on Saturday evening but was suspended in the bottom of the third with the Bahamas leading 1-0. When the game resumed on the following day at 10AM, team Bahamas added four runs in the bottom of the third highlighted by doubles from Yokito Pinder, Kyle Simmons and Michael Robinson which was capped by RBI singles from Rolle and Justin Sweeting.

Team Bahamas packed on more runs with RBI singles from Pinder, Rolle and Angelo Watson in the fifth and sixth innings to give the Bahamas an 11-2 lead.

Pinder and Rolle finished with three RBI and three hits each.

Maleek Perpall pitched 5 strong innings – In relief, the bullpen struggled for the first time in the championship.

The rains came down with Team Bahamas coming to bat in the bottom of the sixth which made the game official.

In their opening win of the tournament, the Bahamas won 10-0 over Venezuela.

Rolle and Chavez Young lead the way with two hits and two RBI each.

Dorian Kemp began the game with two strikeouts and three walks against Venezuela and at a key moment early in the game, got the final out to pop up to Young in Left Field.

After pitching his way out of a rocky first inning, Kemp settled down and never looked back as he throw a two hit shut-out.

Team Bahamas’ offensive attack started in the 1st inningwhen Rolle doubled to score the first run.

They remained aggressive with a double steal and scored two more runs on costly errors by Venezuela to take a 4-0 lead at the end of the first inning.

Young belted an RBI Triple down the right field line and the Bahamas took a 6-0 lead. Rolle continued his torrid hitting with a lead-off double and was plated on an RBI single by Sweeting scored.

Young added an RBI single to score Kyle Simmons and the Bahamas lead 8-0 after the third inning.

Team Bahamas completed the victory by the 10 run mercy rule, following a walk to Kyle Simmons, an RBI triple from Robinson and a Mayers base hit to left field to seal the win.

Team Bahamas success in the PONY Colt Division is becoming well known in the region with their third championship game appearance.

Team Bahamas’ 2006 team had several members with double figure hits, and the 2013 team Bahamas was the best hitting team since then.

PONY League baseball currently has a prescence in 21 countries. It maintains four zones in the United States and four international zones. The Bahamas is a member of the Caribbean zone which includes Anguilla, Antingua, the Dominican Republic, Nevis, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saba, St. Croix, St. Eustatius, St. Martin, and St. Thomas.