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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

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Bahamas drops first game in Venezuela By SPORTS WRITER ~ The Nassau Guardian: Despite a tumultuous start to the Big League Caribbean/Latin American Regional Tournament in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Team Bahamas gave a great account for themselves, losing 4-0 to the tournament favorites, Puerto Rico. After having their flight delayed for various reasons over the course of two days, the team finally settled into its hotel in Maracaibo at 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning. They had very little time to rest, as they had a 9:00 a.m. scheduled game that same morning against Puerto Rico. Nevertheless, according to reports, the team performed admirably, barely missing out on a chance of pulling off a huge upset. The Bahamas left nine runners in scoring position, failing to get that big game-changing hit in quite a few situations. Reportedly, designated hitter Daniel Cash missed a three run home-run by about three feet, and center fielder Ali Knowles fell short of a two run shot by a couple of feet. Third place batter Desmond Russell also reportedly missed a triple by a few inches. "Other guys had chances too but were not able to break through against the strong pitching by the Puerto Rican pitcher," said coach Patrick Knowles through an e-mail. "Their pitcher and defense deserve a lot of credit." The team was scheduled to play Curacao at 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon, but the result of that game was unavailable up to press time. Against Puerto Rico, new Philadelphia Phillies' draftee Richard Bain had two hits and Aneko Knowles had the other one. The Puerto Rican squad lost a close Big League World Series Championship game to South Carolina last year, 5-4. They fell in the final inning of that 18-and-under championship game last year. Puerto Rico started out quickly against The Bahamas on Sunday morning, with a two run home-run in the first inning to grab a quick 2-0 lead. They added another run in the fourth inning and completed the scoring with a run in the sixth inning. Losing pitcher Jonathon 'Chumba' Groezinger pitched a solid game for The Bahamas, keeping his team in the game with a chance to win. Leon Cooper and Jordon Gibson came on in middle relief in the fifth and the sixth innings respectively. According to reports, The Bahamas defense did a great job. Center fielder Ali Knowles had four put outs, one of which was a spectacular play in the right field gap to keep Puerto Rico from adding on runs. Knowles also had one assist, throwing out a base-runner trying to advance from second to third. Infielders Lynden Pindling, Desmond Russell and Stephen Curtis, along with catcher Aneko Knowles were all outstanding in supporting the strong pitching performance by the team. Team manager Teran Rodgers wants his team to continue to compete and keep applying pressure, and also to maintain strong pitching and stellar defense. Tuesday, June 23, 2009