The 2011 Long Beach PONY team features coaches Ken Jakemer, Jerry Barham and Stacy Ybarra. Players: Mike Fitzgerald, Spencer Hill, Blake Perkins, Andy Brown, Tristin Chamberlain, Jake Barham, Jeremy Corbin, Connor Dunlap, Josh Goldberg, Marc Moroney, Jackson Foss, Tyler Radcliffe, Will Johnson and Sean Suarez.

The high school season is over and the Dirtbags are done for 2011, but this summer, the best baseball team in Long Beach continues to march toward another shot at greatness.

The Long Beach PONY All-Stars, a squad of 13-14 year-olds led by manager Ken Jakemer, are swiftly moving through the tournament ranks with their sights set on another run at the 2011 PONY (Protect Our Nation’s Youth) World Series.

It would be wise to take those aspirations seriously. Jakemer-led teams were World Series runner-up in 2007, World Series champions in 2008 and made another deep run last summer.

But there’s a long road ahead. There are five tournament brackets in the competition, and after receiving a bye in the first (District) and making short work of Pacific Palisades in the Finals of the second (Section), Long Beach next week heads into the heated Super-Region bracket. They’ll face tougher competition there, and with luck move on to the Zone, and then World Series, an international showdown that in 2008 ended with a walk-off home run victory over Taiwan.

“The support we have received over the past few years, and already this year is very inspiring to our team,” said Jakemer. “Playing for more than just themselves, and instead for their league… and now their town, has instilled a bigger sense of purpose and responsibility… and they don’t want to let anyone down. It has fueled their intensity at workouts and in the games. We thank everyone for their words of encouragement, attendance, and belief in our team.”

The Long Beach PONY is next in action in the opening round of the Super-Region, facing Fullerton at 5:00pm next Friday, July 29 in Whittier. Stay tuned to LBPOSTSports.com and we’ll have more information about the 2011 championship run and keep you posted on their results.