The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

As the NCAA Division 1 baseball season bypasses its first quarter, Bahamian players have been active on baseball diamonds at universities across the United States.

The Bahamas boasts a number of players playing collegiate baseball, nine at the division 1 level.

Leading the charge is Brandon Murray who has been an integral part of his College of Charleston Cougars’ blistering 15-4 start. In 19 games, Murray is hitting .270 and leads the team with a slugging percentage of .571. He is also the Cougars’ leader in several other categories with four home runs, five doubles, 13 walks, an on base percentage of .439 and 36 total bases. Murray is 17-63 with 17 runs scored and 17 RBI.

The Cougars have raced out to a 15-4 record prior to conference play. Recently, the Cougars completed a two-game sweep over the Michigan Wolverines and Murray continued his stellar play.

In the opener, a 3-2 win, he went 2-3 with one run scored and three RBI and followed with an RBI in the 4-3 series clincher. After a slow start to the season, 0-11 in a three- game series against the North Carolina Tar Heels, Murray came alive with a 2-2 outing against Charleston Southern. Some of his other top games included, 2-3 with one run and three RBI against Marist and 2-4 with a home run and 5 RBI.

The 6’0” 210-pound senior outfielder and former JBLN standout was a Pre-Season all Colonial Athletic Association-Team nominee.

As a junior he was named All-Southern Conference Second Team after he hit .306 with a team high 54 RBI and finished second on the team with nine home runs.

The standout game of his collegiate career remains an April meeting last season against Davidson when he drove in a school record nine RBI against Davidson with a two run double, a three run home run and a grand slam.

The well-known trio of local players at Jackson State University were joined by an incoming freshman to bring the total number of Bahamians on their roster to four.

Seniors Desmond Russell, Stephen Curtis and Aneko Knowles, along with freshman Sebron Mackey, have been key figures behind the Tigers and their 16-6 start to the season.

Russell has been a force both on the mound and at the plate to lead the Tigers. He has appeared in eight games as a pitcher, with four starts and has compiled a 4-2 win loss record with an ERA of 2.70. In addition to leading the team in appearances and wins, he also leads with 36 strikeouts, 40 innings pitched and three complete games.

At the plate, he has hit .207 with a slugging percentage of .293 and an on-base percentage 0f .304. He has hit one home run and scored nine runs. 

Curtis has started 13 of 17 games as an infielder and has hit .250 in 48 plate appearances. He has an on-base percentage of .292, has scored 12 runs and drove in five RBI. Knowles has been the leadoff hitter and has started the last seven games for the Tigers. He has hit .294 with eight runs scored, an on base percentage of .520.

Despite just playing seven games, he is second on the team in stolen bases with four bases in four attempts.

Mackey has followed in Russell’s footsteps with his efficiency on the mound with two wins in five appearances with an ERA of 2.35.

In the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference a pair of Bahamian players have seen their teams head in opposite directions near the 20-game mark.

In his sophomore season, Byron Ferguson has made five appearances on the mound this season and has pitched four innings as his Bethune Cookman Wildcats reached above the .500 mark with an 11-10 record.

Meanwhile, Remon Grant and the Grambling State Tigers have struggled out of the gate at 3-15. The Grand Bahama native has appeared in three games for the Tigers thus far and has scored one run.

In his freshman season last year, Ferguson made 21 appearances on the mound with one start. He finished with a 3-2 record and 4.66 ERA in 29 innings, including one save. He also struck out 19 opposing batters and opponents batted .262 against him.

Both players were high school graduates of Trinity Christian Academy in Lake Worth, Florida.

Trae Sweeting has been enjoying a successful freshman season with the Georgia State Panthers in the Sunbelt Conference. As both a catcher and outfielder, Sweeting has appeared in 12 games with two starts. He is hitting .231 with three RBI and two stolen bases in three attempts.

After a stellar career at Christ School in Arden, North Carolina, Sweeting has also made a seamless transition in the classroom at the collegiate level. He was a member of the Athletic Director’s Honour Roll for the fall 2013 semester. 

Ali Knowles, also an alumni of the Christ School, is in his senior season with the Troy University Trojans. He has made two starts in seven appearances on the year. As a junior he made 35 starts in centre field for the Trojans and appeared in 42 games. He posted multi-hit performances in six games, including a 3-5 outing with two RBI and three runs scored against Florida A & M.