Steve Faigin lead China to victory as Hayden Sands, Wayne Brenden, Roy Yocum, Ted Schaffer, Tim Gilmore, Jeff Brown, Jim Gillispie, Greg Goodman, Brian Scholtisek, Bob Uhl, and Ross Cooper would have made Mao proud.

China balanced hitting and pitching to go undefeated and win the 2003 Tournament.

    Rick Sorci pushed the Sons of Italy hard and by the end of the week  Dan Ross, Tim Allard, Alan Bernstein, Ron Weiss, Rob Bohn, Richard Petrassi, Don Kiser, John DeMico, Patrick DeMico, Alan Hoffman, Jack Gordon, and Joe Maiden had jelled as a team and all contributed to the Sorci "hit. The funeral was held Monday.

Italy was a shining star, but their championship game rallied fell short in the last inning as they finished the tournament in 2nd place.

    Managed by Ron Russo, the Comrades Of Summer were Sasha Muratov, David Kelley, Tom Jeffreys, Ken Hearn, James Trepaine, Scott Lewis, Jeff Forgacs, Michael Sable, Russell Sacks, Mike Geoffrion, Dan Emer, and team MVP Dick Irvin.

Russia was stacked with hitters, but ran short on pitching to finish in 3rd place. Sasha summed it up best when he said, "Stop! No! I'll talk!  Please don't make me pitch anymore!"

Manager Harvey Sherman never wanted to play less than 18 inning games, but Norway's illustrious team of Kent Karrlsson, Bo Wemm, Robert Duff, Al Harchik, Tom Frederico, Tim Dighton, Curtis Sampson, Danny Baker, Charles Lease, Joe Militello, and Stan Katz overruled him.

Norway gave China the best run for it's yuan in all of their games, but couldn't a fjord a victory over Mao's maulers.

The 2003 Baseball International Tournament drew players from around the world (well, Russia and Norway anyway) to Fort Lauderdale Stadium, the spring training home of the Baltimore Orioles.

The days started with morning batting cage drills for our elite superstars.

Wrigley has its ivy, Fenway the green monster, but nothing beats the hedge at the Fort Lauderdale complex.

The fans filled the stands for the high octane action of international baseball.

Just like the Red Sox prove every time Pedro Martinez pitches, nothing draws the crowds like superstar players.  Note how attendance doubled when Katz came to bat.

Tension builds as Ron Russo rallies his troops in another slugfest.

Sunny days, temperatures in the high 70's, professional fields, obnoxious umpires, and lots of baseball action.  What more could you ask for in January?

Pitching, defense, hitting, running, and throwing are all elements of the game that we hope to incorporate into next year's tournament in Winter Haven!

The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip Experience!