The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

It was a tough opening round loss for Great Britain and the Bahamian players on its roster at the World Baseball Classic Qualifier.

Great Britain lost 5-2 to Israel last night at MCU Park in Brooklyn, New York. Seven of the nine Bahamians on the roster were in the starting lineup for Great Britain.

Todd Isaacs went 2-3 with two RBI while Champ Stuart went 3-4 and scored two runs. Isaacs hit an RBI line drive single to right field to plate Champ Stuart. It gave his team an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Chavez Young was 1-3 and Jazz Chisholm went 1-4.

The pair would score for Great Britain again in the top of the 7th when Isaacs hit a sac fly to right field to score Stuart and give their team a 2-1 lead.

Israel would respond with four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take control for good.

Great Britain will face Pakistan at 7pm tonight in a matchup of teams looking for their first win of the tournament.

Brazil, Great Britain, Israel and Pakistan will compete over the course of the four-day contest to decide the 16th and final entry in the 2017 WBC.

The winner of Sunday’s championship game will travel to Seoul, South Korea, next March and compete against host Korea, The Netherlands and Chinese Taipei in Pool B of the WBC 2017.

All the games will be streamed live and free of charge on MLB.com.

Veteran Bahamian players Antoan Richardson (Southern Maryland, Atlantic League) and Albert Cartwright (Ottawa, Can-Am League) are in their second tenure with Great Britain.

This time around they will be joined by a talented group of young Bahamian players including Ali Knowles (Garden City, Pescos League), Chavez Young (Toronto Blue Jays, MLB), Jasrado Chisholm (Arizona Diamondbacks, MLB), Kyle Simmons (Pittsburgh Pirates, MLB), Todd Isaacs (Cleveland Indians, MLB), Reshard Munroe (Cincinnati Reds, MLB), Byron Murray (San Francisco Giants, MLB) and Champ Stuart (New York Mets, MLB).