Navojoa, Mexico will represent PONY Baseball’s Mexico Zone in the 2019 Bronco-11 World Series (B11WS). Mexico has been an annual participant at the B11WS, now entering its 11th year, but this is the first time that a team from Navojoa has qualified.

Navojoa’s juggernaut offense, dominant defense, and pitching led it to a Mexico Zone championship, where it was the host team. Prior to the Mexico Zone championship game, Navojoa compiled a 6-1 record and outscored its opponents 56-14. Franco Mendoza, Ivan Gutierrez, and Ángel Tajia were the driving forces behind Navojoa’s offense. Mendoza, Gutierrez, and Tajia each collected seven RBIs in Navojoa’s first seven games of the tournament. On the defensive side of the ball, Mendoza also led Navojoa with a dominant pitching performance. Over the course of 7.2 innings pitched, Mendoza collected a 1.17 ERA and struck out 10. Navojoa also rallied behind the pitching of Fausto Barreras. Barreras pitched a total of seven innings and compiled an ERA of 2.57. Barreras also proved to be challenging to opposing batters, striking out a total of 13.

The championship game at Severiano Talamante Stadium went down as one for the ages. In the championship game, Navojoa defeated Tijuana by a score of 10-9, and, once again, it was Mendoza who helped his team to victory. Navojoa jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third inning to open the scoring. Two defensive errors allowed Emilio Ibarra and Pablo Rodríguez to score, and Tajia, Jonathan Reyes, and Jonathan Gonzalez each had RBI singles. By the end of the fifth inning, Navojoa added four more runs to jump out to a comfortable 9-3 lead. However, Navojoa completed a series of defensive errors in the sixth inning, which allowed Tijuana to come back and tie the game at 9-9. In the seventh inning, Mendoza and Tajia’s consecutive doubles allowed Navojoa to take a 10-9 lead. Sebastián Enríquez pitched three innings in relief and sealed the victory in the bottom of the seventh inning for Navojoa.

Navojoa will take on the champion of the PONY East Zone in its first game at 5:30 p.m. ET/US, Friday, July 26 at Harry G. Daniel Park at Iron Bridge in the 2019 B11WS. Although Mexico has had recent success as the runner-up at 2014 and 2015 B11WS, Navojoa seeks to become the first Mexican team to win the B11WS since Tijuana brought home a B11WS title to Mexico in 2010.