Bulldogs baseball club perfect at tournament

The Southern Nevada Bulldogs baseball club's 11-and-under team captured the Triple Crown World Series in Steamboat Springs, Colo., rolling through the weeklong tournament and racking up an 8-0 record along the way.

The Bulldogs capped off the tournament with a 9-1 win over the Texas Stars in the championship game Aug. 1 as Bryce Harper threw a complete-game no-hitter. The team voted Harper offensive MVP after the game and named Zane Affleck defensive MVP.

The Bulldogs, a traveling team, came out on top of all 30 teams in the annual Triple Crown World Series tournament. All teams that played in Steamboat Springs had to qualify for the event by winning tourneys in their own regions.

In the opening round, the Bulldogs rolled over the competition, walloping the A West Wildcats (Colorado) in the opener, 11-2, defeating the Southern California Angels, 12-4, in the second game, and then shellacking the Bingham Minerzz (Utah), 26-0, to advance to the championship round bracket.

The roll continued in the championship bracket as the Bulldogs beat the Colorado Mudcats, 6-2, the McDowell Mountain Yankees, 13-5, and the Rocky Mountain Steel, 6-5, in the closest game of the tourney, to advance to the title game against the Texas Stars.

"Our toughest competition usually comes from the Southern California teams in tournaments," Bulldogs assistant coach Mike DiDonato said. "We pretty much breezed through this tournament."

The No. 2-seeded Bulldogs outscored their opponents 96-24 at the tournament, winning by an average 12-3 margin.

In 10 tournaments this calendar year, the Bulldogs have now won eight and finished third in the other two. In four of the tournaments, the Bulldogs moved up to play with the 12-year-olds to sharpen their skills. The two tournaments the Bulldogs actually lost this year were ones in which they played against older kids.

DiDonato said it's hard to find teams in the area that are competition for his group.

"Usually pitchers at this age throw in the low to mid 60s (miles per hour)," DiDonato said. "Our ace pitcher Bryce Harper throws in the mid 70s."

Two-time defending USSSA Nevada State Champions, the Bulldogs are coached by Scott Baker, who played 13 years with Major League Baseball's Oakland A's organization. Baker is assisted by DiDonato -- whose son, Jake, is another star pitcher on the club -- and Ron Harper, father of Bryce Harper.

Other players on the 12-member team include Joey Gallo, the only 10-year-old on the team, Morgan Stotts, Eric Holdren, Tyler Baker, Bruce Lewallen, Roy Sipes, Dugan Hicks, Tanner Chauncey and Jake Chiancone.

Next up for the Bulldogs -- ranked No. 1 in the state among USSSA 11-and-under teams and No. 3 in the national power rankings -- is the Triple Crown Fall Nationals, to be played in Henderson. In its first year in 2003, the Las Vegas Fall Nationals hosted 97 teams from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

"We'll definitely be one of the top teams at the Fall Nationals," DiDonato said. "We're going to defend our title. And it's really nice to have the tournament in our own back yard."

DiDonato added that finding the money for the Bulldogs -- a nonprofit organization -- to be able to afford to travel to all these tournaments has been made easy by some well-meaning sponsors.

"We've been very fortunate to be able to fund a lot of our trips through our sponsors, like Pepsi," DiDonato said. He added that each trip can cost between $500 and $600 per player.


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