The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IN a battle of two remaining undefeated teams, the New Providence Buccaneers knocked off the Eleuthera Adventurers to book their ticket to the gold medal game for baseball in the sixth Bahamas Games.

As the country celebrated its 50th Golden Jubilee Independence anniversary yesterday at the new Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium, the Buccaneers pulled off a 9-2 win.

Buccaneers’ manager Clarence ‘CJ’ McKenzie said he was satisfied with the way the Buccaneers performed.

“We really wanted to put ourselves in a position to compete for the gold medal,” McKenzie said. “Tomorrow, we expect the same thing, good defence and a lot of fire power, scoring a lot of runs.”

The Buccaneers were able to produce at least two runs per inning to back up the strong pitching from Deshaughn Forbes to remain undefeated in three games as they advanced to the gold medal game at 4 pm.

With the loss, Eleuthera dropped to 2-1 and will move into the bronze medal game at 1pm.

Their opponents will come following the 10am match-up between the Lucayans from Grand Bahama and the Andros Chickcharnies.

Grand Bahama avoided elimination as they shutout Andros 10-0 in four innings in their key match-up earlier yesterday.

Manager Orville Saint said they played sparingly, but will definitely have to play up to par if they intend to win a medal.

“At first it was a let down for me because I guess the expectations were a little high,” Saint said. “I’m glad we got beat in the first game.

In the second game, we won that and the third game we should have won it.”

Saint noted that his Lucayan bats were not up to par, but now they are playing up to their full potential and he’s hoping it will produce the kind of results they need for the final day of competition today.

In their shutout of Andros, Kyton Bethel pitched a no-hitter with two walks and left fielder McKell Bethel led their offensive attack with a 1-for-2 outing with two runs batted in and a run scored.

Designated hitter Ryan Norttage scored twice with a RBI.

“Our bats are coming around, so anything is possible,” Saint said.

“We have to work our way back up to the gold medal game. “I’m not going to put any pressure on my guys. I will just wait to see how they play tomorrow.”

Zaden Cox suffered the loss as Andros suffered their second straight loss on the day, dropping a 7-6 decision to New Providence as the Chickcharnies got eliminated from further play.

Malik Foster got the win on the mound and Tavaris Minnis was tagged with the loss.

Versatile Deshaughn Forbes was 1-for-2 with two RBI and a run scored and left fielder Tata Isaacs was 2-for-3 with a RBI and two runs scored.

Tavaris Munnings got the loss. Left fielder Justin Smith was 1-for-2 with a run scored.

In the other game played yesterday, Columbus Isles blanked MICAL 16-0 behind the 1-0 hit, four walk, five strike outs and one hit by pitch performance by winning pitcher Junnel Bain.

He also helped his own cause with a perfect 2-for-2 plate appearance with two runs scored and a RBI.

Javier Bowe suffered the loss.

• Games played in the aseball Tournament are as follows:

FRIDAY

Long Island def. Abaco 6-3; Eleuthera def. Grand Bahama 8-1; MICAL def. Columbus Isles 4-2; Andros def. Bimini 9-7; Grand Bahama def. Abaco 10-0 and New Providence def. Long Island 8-0.

SATURDAY

Columbus Isles def. Grand Bahama 11-5; Long Island def. Bimini 9-7 and Grand Bahama def. Abaco 13-0.

SUNDAY

MICAL def. Long Island 13-0; Grand Bahama def. Bimini 4-0 and Eleuthera MICAL 12-2.

MONDAY

New Providence def. Andros 7-6; Columbus Isles def. MICAL 16-0; Grand Bahama def. Andros 10-0 and New Providence def. Eleuthera 9-2.