SPORTS SECTION E
By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net LUCIUS Fox notched another career milestone and became the second Bahamian this offseason to receive a Major League call-up during Spring Training. Fox was assigned to the Tampa Bay Rays’ Grapefruit League roster and saw immediate action on the field against the Minnesota Twins at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Florida. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Fox replaced shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria as a pinch runner. He would eventually score on a Denard Span RBI. Fox remained in the game defensively at shortstop for the remainder of the afternoon. The Twins won 8-4. His call-up came just a day after Jervis Stuart received his Spring
Training call-up Fox hit a career-best from the New York .278 and ranked Mets. third in the MidFox entered west League with spring training at 27 stolen bases. He No.7 on the prosalso ranks second pect list for the on the team with Rays among play45 runs scored, colers still listed with lected 27 RBI and rookie eligibility. totalled a .362 OBP Fox was assigned and a .722 OPS with to the Charlotte two runs. Stone Crabs at the “Fox is a topSingle A-Advanced flight athlete with level last July. In plus-plus speed 30 games with the and three more LUCIUS FOX club, he hit .235 tools that should with a .608 OPS, .350 be at least solid. The OBP, one home run, three stolen switch-hitter profiles as a future bases, 12 RBI and 19 runs scored. leadoff-type hitter, as he employs The 20-year-old shortstop spent a solid approach, produces linethe previous 77 games with the drive contact from both sides of Bowling Green Hot Rods of the the plate and knows how to use his Midwest League at the Single impressive wheels once on base. A-Full level. For the Hot Rods, Fox won’t offer much in the way of
over-the-fence power, but he does have some strength and can drive some balls to the gaps, making him a source of doubles and triples,” Prospect Watch said. “Fox’s range, quick hands, and arm fit easily at shortstop, though, like any young shortstop, he needs to fine-tune his game and learn the nuances of the position. Some scouts don’t love his middle-infield actions and think he’ll fit better in centre field, though the Rays believe he can stay at short, lauding his super athleticism and ability to learn quickly.” Fox was also featured in the annual showcase of Major League Baseball’s top minor league prospects during the midseason All-Star classic. He drove in one RBI, but his Futures World team fell one run short in their rally and a 7-6 loss to team USA at the 2017 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game.
National champions A
total of seven made the qualifying standards for the CARIFTA Games and at least 12 records were broken as the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture concluded their National High School Track and Field Championships on Saturday night as the Big Red Machine took home another overall title to St Augustine’s College. As the three-day meet closed out at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, the Big Red Machine rolled out with a total of 935.50 points to hold off the stiff challenge from the Queen’s College Comets, who had 810.50 for second and the Tabernacle Baptist Academy Falcons, who took third place to Grand Bahama with 615.50. However, there was no distinction made on the separation of the senior and junior high divisions, although the scores indicated that SAC would have accumulated sufficient points to win the senior division, while Queen’s College took the junior division. SAC’s head coach William ‘Knucklehead’ Johnson said with the final trials for the CARIFTA Games this weekend, they had to make a decision that was in the best interest of the country and not so much for the Big Red Machine while they still attempt to seal the championship deal. “The biggest thing is going into
nationals, the CARIFTA trials was just five days away and we wanted to go to nationals without maximising our athletes in terms of what they can do,” Johnson said. “We had Jaide Knowles, who could win and set national records in the 100, 200 and hurdles, but we decided to limit the amount of events for all of them to preserve them because fatigue is what starts injuries. “So we wanted to get out of nationals without injuries. We pretty much did that, but we gave up easily 200-plus points by not putting athletes in certain events and holding some back in others like Joel Johnson, who has the fastest time this year in the 200, but we only allowed him to run the 100 and the 4 x 100. We had to be conscious of those athletes who will be representing the country at CARIFTA and hope that things worked out.” In the end, the Big Red Machine prevailed by taking seven of the divisional titles, including the under-17 and under-20 girls and under-13 and under-17 boys’w divisions. But Johnson said they were thrilled by the competition they received from the Comets and the Falcons. The Comets won the under-13 and under-15 girls and under-15 and open boys divisions, while the Falcons captured the under-20 boys division. Queen’s College, who had the most points in the female team scores with 538.50 ahead of SAC’s
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SAC BIG RED MACHINE TAKE HOME TRACK & FIELD TITLE
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net WHILE she didn’t make it in an individual event, sprinter Carmiesha Cox capped off her collegiate career by running the third leg of Purdue University women’s 4 x 400 metre relay to help the Boilermakers pull off a second place finish at the NCAA Division One
CASEY ENDS WIN DROUGHT AT VALSPAR AFTER WOODS’ LATE CHARGE PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — Paul Casey closed with a 6-under 65 and won the Valspar Championship yesterday after watching Tiger Woods come up one putt short of a playoff. A highly charged PGA Tour event ended with one player ending a long victory drought, just not the one most fans came to see. Casey ran off three straight birdies early on the back nine to take the lead, and he closed with tough pars to post at 10-under 274. No one caught him, giving Casey his first PGA Tour victory since the 2009 Houston Open. Patrick Reed squandered a chance to force a playoff when a long birdie putt rolled 45 feet back to his feet and he three-putted for bogey. Woods charged up the record crowd with a birdie putt from just inside 45 feet on the 17th hole to get within one shot. He laid well back off the 18th tee and hit his approach from 185 yards to just inside 40 feet. The birdie chance to force a playoff was 2 feet short. Woods closed with a 1-under 70 and tied for second, his highest finish in an official tournament since he tied for second at The Barclays in 2013.
CARTWRIGHT AND AMERICAN PARTNER WIN DOUBLES TITLE By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
ST Augustine’s College Big Red Machine students celebrate their track and field title win.
Cox caps off collegiate career with 2nd in 4x400m relay
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MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018
Lucius Fox receives Major League call-up
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
Woods,
Indoor Championships on Saturday in College Station, Texas. At the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium, the other three Bahamians competing didn’t fear as well in their individual events. Cox, on the third leg, got the baton in first place, but coming off the final curve on the last of the two laps each competitor had to run, the University of South Carolina runner took the lead and they held on for the win on the anchor leg in 3:27.45. Purdue got second in 3:29.92, both season best performances. It was Cox’s final appearance for the Boilermakers as she is not eligible to compete outdoors. She closed out her four-year sting at Purdue University in grand style, running a split of 52.07 as she teamed up with sophomore Choloe Abbott and seniors Brionna Thomas and Jahneya Mitchell for just the second time. Cox ended up with her fourth first-team All-America honours and the ninth overall of her career, including the outdoors.
On the field, preliminary round Kaiwan Culmer, in of the women’s 60m his senior year for hurdles. the Nebraska HuskSeymour’s time ies, had to settle for of 8.13 seconds was 10th place in the final sixth in her heat for of the men’s triple 10th place overall. jump on Saturday The top qualifier was with his leap of 15.97 Payton Chadwick, a metres of 52-feet, 4 junior at Arkansas, 3/4-inches. O’Brian in a lifetime achieveWasome, a sophoment of 7.93. The more at Texas, won eighth and final qualithe competition with fier was Kayla White, a leap of 16.82m (55-2 a junior at North Car1/4). olina A&T, who did LaQuan Nairn, 8.12. in his junior year at In the final on SatTexas, soared 7.52m urday, Chadwick led (24-8 1/4) for 11th three other women place in the final of with lifetime personal the men’s long jump best performances as CARMEISHA COX on Friday. Will Wilshe stopped the clock liams, a senior at in 7.93 to duplicate Texas A&M, was the winner with her time of 7.93 in the preliminara best of 8.19m (26-10 1/2). ies for the win. Also on Friday on the track, With the indoor season now Pedrya Seymour, a senior at complete, the focus of attention Texas, finished two spots outside will switch to the outdoors, which of qualifying for the final in her will start this weekend.
AFTER they both got ousted early in their second tournament at the Lyttos Beach Hotel in Heraklion, Greece, Bahamian female pro tennis player Kerrie Cartwright and her American partner Kariann Pierre-Louis made sure that they didn’t suffer the same fate in doubles. The unseeded duo survived all the way to the final where they upset the top seeded team of Michaela Boev of Belgium and Raluca Georgiana Serban of Romania with an impressive 6-4, 7-5 decision to win their first International Tennis Federation’s Ladies’ title. Boev and Serban were the doubles champions of the previous tournament at the same venue the week before. “I thought that we played really well,” Cartwright told The Tribune as she became the first Bahamian in modern era to win any women’s professional title. “We stayed really aggressive and even though the match was kind of close, it just came down to those deuce points and 30-30 to take the games.” While Cartwright made her exit in the first round in singles after losing 6-4, 6-3 to Ioana Gaspar from Romania and Pierre-Louis was ousted in the second round 6-2, 6-3 to Serban, the No.2 seed, it was more revenge for the Bahamian-American combo in doubles. “It was good for us to pull off the doubles,” Cartwright said. There was no time for celebrations as Cartwright had to turn right around and played her first round match in their third and final tournament in Greece.
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