The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE I-Elite Bahamas 18-and-under team, with some help from the United States, Venezuela and Mexico, wasted no time in getting their feet wet at the fifth annual World Comes to the Palm Beaches International Baseball Tournament.

I-Elite, coached by Albert Cartwright and Geron Sands, whitewashed Aruba 10-0 in five innings as the tournament got underway yesterday at the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, which is considered the best baseball facility on planet earth.

There are three other divisions in the tournament - 12-and-under, 15-and-under and open - but the Bahamas is only being represented by I-Elite Bahamas in the 18-and-under division.

Martin ‘Pork’ Burrows, one of the top international certified umpires in the country, is officiating at the tournament that will run through Sunday, October 31.

In their opener. I-Elite Bahamas used American pitcher Tyler Taylor, who held his own behind the solid defence from the team, which turned a triple play as third baseman Sebastian Walcott scooped up a ground ball, touched the bag, made the double play to Cheriff Neymour at short, who flipped it over to Chad Delancy at first to complete the defensive play to end the game in the fifth inning.

Also in the fifth inning, Toby Simmons ripped an in-the-park home run to add to his double in the game, while Neymour, Andru Arthur and Janero Miller (double) were all 1-for-3 to lead the offensive attack.

In addition to the seven Bahamian players and American Taylor, three players from Venezuela and Mexico each make up I-Elite Bahamas in the international tournament, which features at least nine countries. “I think we played very well today, but I think we will do even better tomorrow,” Sands said. “We started off a little rough, but we got a lot of timely hits and played great defence.

“The infielders did their job, the outfielders did their job, we communicated very well and we pitched well. All in all, we did very well and I expect us to go very far into this tournament. Hopefully our pitching holds up, so we can go far into this tournament.”

Today, I-Elite Bahamas-plus team will take on the Dominican Republic at 10am.