Bahamian baseball player with the Community Christian Academy Cougars, Jerome Jones, recently signed a letter of intent to play with Indian River State College in the fall.
By signing on the dotted line with the state college, Jones assured himself of staying in Florida and close to home to start his collegiate career. At the plate this past season, he had a .418 batting average with four home-runs and 25 RBIs to lead his team to the top seed in District 11-2A. From the mound, he threw a two-hitter in a tough 5-3 loss to St. Petersburg-Canterbury School, in eight innings, in the Region 3-2A Championship. Miscues proved costly for the Cougars as they failed to advance to its first Final Four.
For the season, Jones had 28 hits and scored 25 runs. He also stole seven bases in 10 attempts and finished with a .731 slugging percentage.
From the mound this past year, Jones hurled 32 1/3 innings, yielding 21 runs off 24 hits and 17 walks. He didn't allow a home-run and struck out 41 batters in posting a 4-2 win/loss record with a 3.681 Earned Run Average (ERA). Jones said that he is looking forward to playing at the next level.
"I think they have a good baseball program and it's a very good school to go to. The coaches there are great and I think they do a good job of moving kids to the next level," said Jones.
Jones saw action as a pitcher for the Community Christian Cougars, and also played in the outfield. Locally, he plays for the Legacy Baseball League in Freeport, Grand Bahama, and is expected to return to that island for the Bahamas Baseball Federation (BBF) Andre Rodgers Championships this summer.
"Bahamian baseball players continue to have outstanding high school and college seasons," said BBF Secretary General Theodore Sweeting through an e-mail. "The Bahamas Baseball Federation congratulates yet another up and coming young prospect as he signs his official letter of intent."
Another Bahamian playing on the Community Christian team this past season was Alex Roberts, who hails from the Bimini Baseball League in Bimini. Like Jones, he also shared time between the outfield and as a pitcher. From the plate, he batted .397 with one home-run and 15 RBIs. The Bahamian speedster led the team in stolen bases with 34. He was thrown out just once. Roberts also ended with 29 hits and 24 runs scored.

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