By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

THERE’S only one goal for the Bahamas national team in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and that is to win the 2025 PONY Baseball Colt 16-and-under Caribbean and Latin American Baseball Zone championships.

If they can accomplish that feat in the tournament that starts today and wraps up on Monday, May 26, The Bahamas would qualify for the PONY Baseball World Series in Minneapolis in August.

The Bahamas will be among 10 countries participating in the tournament but, according to head coach Donavan Cox from Grand Bahama, they have a mixture of players from New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco, whom he feels confident can get the job done. The players at the tournament are Travis Adderley, Jordan Archer, Marlon Bostwick, Kaizen Dorsett, Kaylin Ferguson, Mirko Gervasini, Malique Israel, Ajay Knowles, Amari Knowles, Kaiden Knowles, Da’Ajhron Moss, Terrel Outten, Elvis Prada, Asher Simms, Javan Smith, Khayle Watkins, Deandre Williams and Mahlik Williams.

“This team is a core for the 14-and-under team that represented the Bahamas last year at the World Cup where we placed second after we lost to Cuba 1-0,” Cox said. “We have a core from that team where we added a few players who can turn 17 by June, so that helps. It just comes down to execution and making the right plays.”

Albert Cartwright, an assistant coach on the team, concurred with Cox, noting that they have the right ingredients for a successful tournament. 

“A lot of guys have played together with us in the Dominican Republic a few months ago, so they know each other,” Cartwright said. “We’ve added a few new guys, but we should be good to go.

“We just need the guys to throw the ball over the plate. We have a pretty good hitting team. But if we can get our pitching and defense to hold up, we should be able to win it.”

With the age restriction, Cartwright said they added two older players from the previous team, which gives the coaching staff a deeper line-up to work with.

Three of the players on the team are excited about their chances of winning.

Kaiden Knowles, who hails from Abqco, is making his debut on the international team.

“It feels good to be a part of this team because I get to do something that I love, which is playing baseball,” he insisted. “I get to represent my country ndf my hometown.

“I think it’s going to be a good inspiration for my teammates in Abavo because anyone of them could be a part of the national team in the future.”

Based on what he’s seen in practice, the 16-year-old 12th grader at Patrick J Bethel High School, is confident that if they play up to their full potential, they should perform very well.

Ajay Knowles, a 14-year-old 10th grader at a home school, is lso making his debut on the team, but he too likes their chances to succeed.

“Most of us have played together and so we need each other,” he said. “We all have great skills and we’re great at communicating with each other, so I feel we will do very well. We just have to go out there and give it 100 percent.”

And Mligue Israel, a 14-year-old student of the International Elite Sports Academy, is one of the returning players from the previous team.

“I feel like this team has a better chance of playing even better than we did the last time,” he said. “The expectation is always to win, but we’re looking at getting all the guys together and play together as a tem and have some fun doing it.”

Hopefully for the team that left town on Tuesday with Terran Rodgers as the team of the delegation, that cohesiveness will result in them qualifying for the PONY World Series.