The Tribune

THE Bahamas Baseball Association, in conjunction with the Brice Newball Foundation, will hold its much anticipated Senior National Baseball Championships this weekend at the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium.

The championships, under the theme “Producing the next generation of stars,” will run from Thursday to Sunday with competition in the 16-and-under and 23-and-under divisions.

BBA secretary general Theodore Sweeting said normally they would host the senior nationals as a part of their Junior National Championships that would be held in Grand Bahama, but this year they decided to allow the seniors to participate on their own in the new stadium. Teams will be participating from New Providence, Grand Bahama, Abaco and Eleuthera, along with Freedom Farm, the Junior Baseball League of Nassau, Ed Armbrister and the Community Baseball League,.

“We will be showcasing the up and coming future stars of baseball participating in the various membership leagues,” Sweeting said. “It will also give our players 16 years and older to compete against each other to be crowned the national champions.

“We will also be having a college showcase, which is scheduled for Saturday from 8am to 1pm at the stadium, that will afford many of our Family Island players, who may not have the opportunity to showcase their talent in front of the visiting college coaches.”

As for the level of competition, Sweeting said it’s going to be very stiff, especially with JBLN just defeating Freedom Farm in their 20-and-under crossover match-up in the regular season.

“It all depends on which players, all of these leagues and teams get to come from school or the pro leagues they are participating in now,” Sweeting said. “We have some very good players who are playing outside of the Bahamas and are eager to come home and showcase their skills in the new stadium.

“We also know that the Ed Armbrister League has some very talented players in their programme as well, so we should see some good competition coming from them. They had a very good team during the last Bahamas Games where most of their players participated on the various islands.”

Sweeting said with so much interest in the senior league programme, it bodes well for the association as they prepare to bring back senior night league baseball next year and they also look at fielding a national team to start the progress of The Bahamas eventually competing on its own in the World Series instead of playing teaming up with Great Britain.

“The future growth and development of the sport continues to explode,” Sweeting said. “So we’re in discussions with our government partners on how well we can move quickly to getting the additional fields ready for practice and competition because we won’t have the space to play all of our games.”

The senior nationals this weekend, according to Sweeting, will be the impetus for what’s to come from the association in the future as far as their senior programme is concerned.

• Here’s a look at the schedule of games played:

Thursday night

5:15 pm 18U FFBL vs EABL (Stadium).

7 pm 23U JBLN vs CBL (Stadium).

8:45 pm 23U FFBL vs EABL (Stadium).

Saturday

College Showcase - 8am - 1 pm.

1:45 pm -18U FFBL vs AYBL (Baillou Hills).

1:45 pm 18U GBLL vs EABL (Stadium).

3:30 pm 18U JBLN vs Legacy (Baillou Hills).

3:30 pm 23U Seed #1 vs Seed #4 (Stadium).

5:15 pm 18U AYBL vs GBLL (Stadium).

5:15 pm 18U Legacy vs EABL (Baillou Hills).

7 pm 23U Seed #2 vs Seed #3 (Stadium).

8:45 pm 18U AYBL vs JBLN (Stadium).

Friday

8:30 am 18U FFBL vs GBLL (Stadium).

9 am 18U EARL vs JBLB (Billou Hills).

10:15 am 23U EABL vs JBLN (Stadium).

10:45 am 18U Legacy vs AYBL (Baillou Hills).

Noon 23U CBL vs FFBL (Stadium).

12:30 pm 18U JBLN vs GBLL (Baillou Hills).

1:45 pm 18U FFBL vs LEgacy (Stadium).

2:15 pm 18U EARL vs AYBL (Baillou Hills).

3:30 pm 23U CBL vs EABL (Stadium).

4:45 pm 18U Legacy vs GBLL (Baillou Hills).

5:15 pm 18U FFBL vs JBLN (Stadium).

8 pm 23U FFBL vs JBLN (Stadium).

Sunday

8:30 am 16U Bronze medal game (Stadium).

10:30 am 23U Bronze medal game (Stadium).

12:30 pm 18U Gold medal game (Stadium).

2:30 pm 23U Gold medal game (Stadium).