The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WITH scores of Bahamian baseball talent flourishing at the high, collegiate and professional level, the Bahamas will look to make its return to the international baseball arena this summer.

The Bahamas is one of five teams confirmed thus far for the World Baseball Challenge, to be hosted in Prince George, British Colombia, Canada, August 14-23.

The Bahamas is slated to compete alongside the United States, Canada, Japan and Cuba.

The World Baseball Challenge was founded in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada, in 2002. The event, which shifted to a bi-annual tournament in 2009, in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, is sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, Baseball Canada and Baseball B.C.

The last time the Bahamas had a true representation of a national team was under the federation at the World Baseball Challenge in Prince George, Canada, in 2011 when the Bahamas all-based collegiate national team, managed by Bertram Murray Jr, beat China 6-5.

The other major tournament where the Bahamas had some success in recent times was in 2006 at the World University Games in Havana, Cuba, when the national college team, behind pitcher Neil Forsythe, defeated the Cuban collegiate national team.

The country’s leaders at the pro level, Antoan Richardson and Albert Cartwright, competed in the World Baseball Classic in 2012, albeit for Great Britain - due to the logistical loophole of their parents being born in a British colony before the Bahamas gained independence.

As they prepared for the tournament, Richardson was vocal on the need for the Bahamas to reestablish the game at the senior level so that the Bahamas would be able to field their own teams on a consistent basis in international events.

“There’s nothing more than we would love than to suit up in the aquamarine, gold and black but right now we are not afforded that opportunity because back home the game is not organised at the senior level. We have a thriving junior programme and a deep talent pool of college players, but for this tournament we will need senior players,” he said. “That is why it is important to get the older guys playing back home. Baseball needs a home in the Bahamas and the game needs to be played at a higher level if we want to compete on the international stage.”

The national team process is expected to improve since the Bahamas Baseball Association (BBA) and the Bahamas Baseball Federation (BBF) signed an agreement last October to resolve the longstanding dispute between the two organisations.

The BBA will remain the authority for the sport throughout the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the BBF will join forces on the selection of the national teams to compete at world level tournaments that are ratified by the Bahamas Olympic Committee.