May 11, 2002 – The St. Thomas-St. Croix Baseball Challenge got underway Friday afternoon at the Michael J. Kirwan Terrace Ballfield. Antilles blanked Good Hope 10-0 in the first game. The Charlotte Amalie High School proved to be up to the test in as they held on to win the night cap 6-5 over the Educational Complex.
The varsity baseball tournament which is sponsored by the St. Thomas-St. John Interscholastic Athletic Association is the first inter-island baseball competition event held in the sport. A total of five teams are participating in the tournament; the Good Hope Falcons and Educational Complex Barracudas from the island of St. Croix and the Charlotte Amalie Chicken Hawks, the Ivanna Eudora Kean Devil Rays and the Antilles Hurricanes from St. Thomas.
In the first game the Hurricanes erupted for eight runs in the top of the second inning to propel them into the lead for good. The Hurricanes had five hits in that inning but were helped by five Falcons errors. The Falcons had a total of six errors for the game.
Hurricanes pitcher Preston Harlow allowed the Falcons only two hits in the game, while striking out seven. He also had a good offensive game with two hits in three at bats and drove in two runs.
The Hurricanes had nine hits and committed only one error. Harlow’s teammates, Bo Nichols and Jake Neely equaled his offensive performance with two hits in three at bats each. John Gazi went three for three at the plate to top all Hurricanes hitters.
Jeff Seroogy suffered the lost for the Falcons and his teammate Alex Gissel had one hit and was walked in his other plate appearance.
In the second game saw the Chicken Hawks survive a last inning two-run home run off of the bat of Ricaldo Encarnacion that went deep over the left field fence. The Chicken Hawks scored two runs in the second inning and four runs in the fourth inning to account for their offensive output. The Barracudas scored three runs in the third inning and the two off Encarnacion’s homerun to account for their offensive output. The Chicken Hawks had eight hits and the Barracudas had six hits. Neither team committed any errors in the contest.
Lequinn Herbert picked up the win for the Chicken Hawks and recorded six strike outs. His teammate, Dijon Carrillo had two hits in three at bats to lead the team offensively. However, all but two of the Chicken Hawks starters had a hit.
Khalid Matthew received the loss but recorded five strike outs for the Barracudas. His teammate, Carl Joseph had two hits in three at bats to lead the Barracudas.
The tournament continues with five games on Saturday and three on Mother’s Day, Sunday. They are:
on Saturday:
Good Hope vs Ivanna Eudora Kean at 10 a.m.
Complex vs Antilles at 12 noon
Good Hope vs Charlotte Amalie at 2 p.m.
Complex vs Ivanna Eudora Kean at 4 p.m.
Antilles vs Charlotte Amalie at 6 p.m.
on Sunday:
Antilles vs Ivanna Eudora Kean at 10 a.m.
Good Hope vs Complex at 12 noon
Ivanna Eudora Kean vs Charlotte Amalie at 2 p.m.
The games are six inning or two hours with a ten-run mercy rule. Additionally the home team will be determined by a coin toss before each game.
