National Grand Slam returns to Boca Raton

Published March 30th, 2008

By Mario Sarmento
SPORTS EDITOR

For the third straight year, the National Grand Slam tournament returns to the Boca Raton area. West Boca Raton High and Palm Beach Central High are co-hosts.

Sixteen teams will compete in this year’s event: the two host schools and Key West, Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington, Boca Raton, Evanston (Ill.), Bay Point, Coral Reef, Central Florida Christian School, Clearwater, Forest Hill, American Heritage-Plantation, American Heritage-Delray and Cardinal Newman.

The tournament starts with opening ceremonies Sunday at West Boca Raton at 12:30 p.m., followed by a home run derby at 2:30 p.m.

Each team will have two representatives in the derby.

Palm Beach Central is the two-time defending champion and will look to repeat with the strongest field of Florida teams the event has seen.

After several out-of-state teams could not make the trip due to FCATs, organizers Brian Joros and Scott Benedict brought in teams like the undefeated Stallions, and the Patriots, the No. 1 team in the nation.

Joros’ Bulls enter the tournament with a 12-4 record, though they haven’t been playing up to his standards.

“I feel we’re getting better,” he said. “We’re finally getting healthy. We haven’t had our projected pitching staff together all season.”

Brian Busch has been on a pitch count because of offseason arthroscopic surgery, while Sean Adelman only recently returned, pitching four strong innings in an 8-1 win over North Broward Prep Wednesday. Adelman too is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

In addition, top reliever Dusty Albanese had minor tendonitis that shelved him for most of the season.

The saving grace for the Bulls is that their hitting, which has been the weak link for the team since Joros arrived, has finally started to blossom.

Seven of West Boca’s nine position players are hitting .330 or better, led by Ricky Conaway’s .520 average. Busch is hitting around .500 with three home runs, Nick Worrall is hitting .500 with two home runs, Marcus Beasley is batting .360 and Cory Emerson his hitting at a .350 clip.

The Bulls are 5-0 in the district, meaning they have all but sewn up the top seed in the tournament. Which means that this week’s tournament will be a chance to measure themselves against some of the best teams in the state.

“It helps us prepare for the state tournament, it helps us gauge where we are as a team,” Joros said. “We get to go deep into our pitching rotation and see what we have.”

Last year, the Bulls fell in the tournament semifinals to Battleground Academy, a team from Tennessee.

This year, Joros said, “I think we have a great chance to do it.” But he added, “There’s 10-12 teams with a legitimate shot of winning it.”

The favorite is American Heritage-Plantation, which has two of the top pitching prospects in the nation.

Games will be played Monday-Wednesday, and the format is double elimination.

The championship is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Florida Atlantic University.

West Boca Raton will play its first game Monday at 7 p.m. against Bay Point at home.

The winner of that game plays the winner of the Evanston-Forest Hill game Tuesday at 7 p.m. at West Boca.

American Heritage-Delray plays Cardinal Newman at 1 p.m. at West Boca, and should the Stallions win, they would face the Key West-Wellington winner at 4 p.m. Tuesday at West Boca.

Tickets are $6-$7, with $25 for a credential that is good for any game all week.