BBF Team, with young Eleutheran, returns from Successful "Colt" Competition.

L to R - Ricky Hall - Assistant Coach; Terran Rodgers - Manager; Johnathan Groezinger - Player Spanish Wells, Eleuthera; Theodore Sweeting - Coach and Secretary General of the BBF.

The Bahamas Baseball Federation (BBF) sent a team of youngsters ages 15-16 to the PONY 'COLT' Caribbean Zone Championship held in Gurabo, Puerto Rico from Monday June 30 through Sunday July 6, 2008.  The tournament, is one of the biggest regional sporting events with the winner advancing to the PONY World Series in Lafayette, Indiana, Aug 6 – 13, 2008.

According to Manager, Terran Rodgers, in conversation with The Eleutheran on Sunday, the team performed very well - proudly representing the nation in four games played.

Games played & Results

Game 1:   Bahamas vs Puerto Rico, Area Team & Defending Champions.
For the first four innings, with Eleutheran Johnathan Groezinger on the mound, The Bahamas held a 2-1 lead, but in the 5th inning Puerto's strength showed. The Bahamas proved tough to the end however, losing by a small margin of 6-4 in favour of Puerto Rico.

Game 2:  Bahamas vs Puerto Rico, Gurabo Host Team.
The Bahamas put up a fierce fight against a powerful host team groomed from a renowned baseball schooling system. As with Game 1, the game was close through the first four innings - in this instance tied at 2-2. However by the 7th and final inning, the hosts had amassed 11 runs with The Bahamas falling short by 6. 

The Wins!
Games 3 and 4 played against the Dominican Republic and Panama were awesome success stories for the Bahamian youngsters with a win against the Dominican Republic at 14 to 3 and another blowout win against Panama at 12 to 1.

Overall
The team finished third overall and proudly sported their medals as they returned to Lynden Pindling International Airport on Sunday shortly before 6:00pm.

Manager, Rodgers, commented that, "Scouts watching the games spoke very highly of the team's pitching, speed on bases and their solid defense".  He highlighted the offensive efforts of Dale Davis Jr. and Anthony Miaoulis, saying that their solid defense helped to carry the team.  David Sweeting, who pitched during the second (2) game against the Gurabo host Puerto Rico team was also given high praise for his performance.  His father, Robert Sweeting, who accompanied the youngster, was beaming with pride for his son's superb play against the team which eventually won the overall tournament.  Sweeting also commented that the Bahamas team had approximately two weeks of practice together before heading into the tournament in Puerto Rico, against some teams which play together all year round.  He said that the BBF are looking at ways of providing opportunities for the Bahamian team members to have more play time together beginning with keeping them together this summer.

The talented young Eleutheran playing with the team - 16-year old Johnathan Groezinger of Spanish Wells, attends Trinity Christian Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida.  He's currently enjoying the competitive baseball at Trinity and says his  school work is going well.  He also hopes to play baseball in college, with his eyes currently set on the University of Georgia. 

Mary Groezinger, Johnathan's proud Mom, is the Secretary of the Methodist Church in Spanish Wells.  He was invited to join the Bahamas PONY team last year, which circumstances did not allow - so this year is his first time with the group. Johnathan was the starting pitcher for game one (1) and a relief pitcher in the final game.

In Johnathan's words, "We played good baseball, but just had some tough breaks, a few mistakes - but, overall it went well". 

His coach, Mr. Theodore Sweeting, has high praise for the young Eleutheran estimating his ability as being the top three for the tournament, and one of the two best pitchers in the under 21 category in the Bahamas currently.

The team included:  

Kyle Hall  
Dale Davis

Jordan Gibson
Johnathan Groezinger
Lynden Pindling
Byron Ferguson Jr.
Aaron Thompson
Jervis Stuart
Crachad Laing
David Sweeting
Travis Strachan
Jack Cone
Anthony Miaoulis
D'Andre Rigby