Chosen for Colt World Series Delphi juniors Austin Hawn and Shane Hyman, along with sophomore Karson Bender, made the Hoosier North baseball team roster for the upcoming Colt World Series, The series begins tonight, Wednesday, at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette. Photo provided Three members of Delphi's baseball team have earned spots on the Hoosier North roster for the 2009 Colt World Series, which opens Wednesday night at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette and runs through Aug. 12.

Juniors Shane Hyman and Austin Hawn and sophomore Karson Bender made it through the tryouts in June to become part of the 18-player team comprised of nine area high schools including Lafayette Jeff, McCutcheon, West Lafayette, Logansport, Benton Central, Crawfordsville, North Montgomery and Frontier.

For the second consecutive year, players from the Oracle program benefited from a decision a few years ago to broaden Pony baseball's exposure in the Lafayette area to include several area schools that also participate in the summer Colt baseball program, instead of just the Lafayette schools.

That decision, along with the IHSAA-mandated ruling that no more than five players from any one high school team can play on the same Colt World Series roster, opened the door to area players that previously were not afforded an opportunity to participate.

"With the World Series held locally, Pony Baseball really wanted to see growth in the area," said Tim Clark, executive director for Pony Baseball and former Purdue football place kicker. "And we are still looking for other schools to join us so that more area kids have the opportunity to play."

Since the roster was finalized, Hoosier North has played in several tournaments and exhibition games in preparation for the Colt World Series. Hoosier North had to earn its berth into the Colt League's annual signature tournament as the "Area Host" team by qualifying in the Harry Bradway Classic that featured teams from around north central Indian.

The current Colt World Series field is comprised of ten teams of 15-and 16-year-olds who play under the PONY Baseball, Inc. blanket.

In addition to the two local teams, the tournament will feature intern ational teams from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Germany and The Philippines, along with teams from the United States representing Tampa, Fla., Santa Clara, Calif., Greensboro, N.C. and Joliet, Ill.

The tournament will start with an Olympic- style format, where the ten teams will be divided into two divisions of five and will be assured of at least four games by playing each of the other teams in their own pool once.

Division assignments are based on order of finish in the previous year's World Series play, and the first and second place finishers in each division then advance to the semi-finals on Tuesday in what then becomes a singleelimination tournament of the final four teams. The winners of the games from the top two finishers in each pool advance to the Gold Medal Championship finale scheduled for next Wednesday night.

Although the tournament officially starts on Wednesday with games scheduled at 2:30, 5 and 7:30 p.m., Hoosier North is not scheduled to take the field until Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against Santa Clara, Calif.

The Area Host team will then continue pool play competition on Friday at 5 p.m. vs. Joliet, Ill., on Saturday at 5 p.m. vs. The Philippines, and on Monday at 7:30 p.m. vs. Greensboro, N.C.