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Wildcats planning South Florida tour
Bunn High baseball team will play foes from Sunshine State, visit former teammate at Dodgers' Spring Training

The Franklin Times
Jan. 7, 2000

Bunn High School's baseball team will take a trip to South Florida over Spring Break.

But this will be a working vacation for the Wildcats.

Coach Jeff Innis is finalizing plans for his Bunn team to play a series of games against Florida prep opponents in the Vero Beach area in mid-March. The trip will coincide with Spring Training for one of Innis' former players, Andrew Zarzour, who is now a pitcher in the Dodgers organization. The Dodgers train at Vero Beach each spring.

"We're really excited," Innis said. "We'll get to see Andrew in action, and hopefully get a chance to meet some of his Dodger teammates. And we'll be playing some quality opponents as well, which will help us get better as a team for the stretch run of our season."

Innis has been working on this trip, at Zarzour's suggestion, since last fall. All of the opponents are not set, but Bunn will get to play Vero Beach High in the main stadium of the Dodgers' Spring Training complex one of the nights they are there.

"Andrew won't tell you this, but he's done a lot to help put this trip together, including donating some of his playoff bonus," Innis said. "He matched our fund-raising efforts dollar for dollar, which will enable us to charter a bus and enjoy nice accommodations while we are in Florida. I expect baseball tryouts to be full of kids in a few weeks."

It's still basketball season for most Bunn players right now. Baseball players will begin practice for the 2000 season in early February.

Zarzour made a meteoric rise from draftee to Big Club pitcher last season. He won his only regular season start with the Dodgers and earned a brief relief appearance in a playoff win over Atlanta. Hot stove chatter around the Majors has Zarzour beginning this season in Triple A with the Albuquerque Dukes.