The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

TEAM Bahamas (Freedom Farm Baseball League) suffered their first loss of the preliminary round at the Cal Ripken Baseball Major 70 World Series.

The team is now 2-1 after an 8-3 loss yesterday at the BallParks of Americas Field in Branson, Missouri. Tied 1-1 after the first inning, Puerto Rico scored three runs in the top half of the second inning to take control for good.

Andre Arthur scored two runs and drove in one RBI while Kashon Conliffe drove in another RBI and Decarlo Delancy one run.

Conliffe also pitched three innings, had three strikeouts and gave up four runs. Brian Johnson and Cleve Sutherland each pitched two innings.

Puerto Rico now leads the Group F International pool at 3-0 and the Bahamas is second at 2-1.

The Bahamas will now face the first place team in Group E International, Japan, at 3pm Thursday. Japan was undefeated in the group stage at 3-0.

Arthur went the distance and pitched a no hitter with eight strikeouts en route to Monday's 12-2 win over New Zealand.

Lavardo Deveaux had a home run, drove in three RBI and scored three runs. Daniel Gator drove in three RBI and scored one run while Arthur also helped his own cause with two RBI and one run.

The Bahamas opened the tournament with a 14-4 win over Australia on Saturday. Cleve Sutherland and Brian Johnson each had three strikeouts on the mound in the win.

Gator drove in three RBI and scored one run. Deveaux had two RBI and scored three runs, Breyias Dean had two RBI while Kashon Conliffe and Arthur each scored two runs.

The Bahamas is one of 24 teams competing in the tournament and one of just 10 international teams alongside the aforementioned teams in their pool - Korea, Japan, Canada and the Dominican Republic.

Major 70 is a level of baseball beyond Little League but before professional that allows players to play on 70-foot base paths with a 50-foot pitching distance.

It also allows runners to take leads and steal for the first time, playing mainly by official baseball rules.

This innovation helped to prepare the youth for better transition to the 90-foot diamonds of the Babe Ruth Baseball 13-15 and 16-18 divisions of play.

Today, the Babe Ruth League has more than 1,000,000 players on 56,000 teams in 9,000 leagues in eight countries and all 50 states.