Newport Harbor’s Bronco All-Stars set to tread rare turf

The Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. Bronco All-Stars have already gotten further than all but one Bronco team in the organization’s history.

So there’s just a morsel of precedent when the Bronco All-Stars open Region Tournament play tonight at 7:30 at Corona’s Santana Park against La Costa.

Only the 2003 Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. Bronco All-Star team has also advanced to the Region Tournament, going 1-2. That team featured Ryan Albert and Jacob McCann, the older brothers of current Bronco All-Stars Daniel Albert and Nick McCann.

“I want to get further than his team did, so I can throw it in his face,” said Nick McCann, the current team’s workhorse pitcher. “If we fall down after we’ve gone this far, then we’ll be pretty mad.”

La Costa, which is based in Carlsbad, is one of two qualifiers from San Diego County. Win or lose, Newport Harbor’s next Region Tournament game would be Friday night in Corona at 7:30, against either Inland Empire or Dana Point.

Only one of the eight participating teams will advance to the West Zone tournament in Whittier starting July 27, the final step before the Bronco World Series.

“I don’t know anything about these San Diego teams at all,” Manager Tony Swies said. “We’re just taking it one game at a time. You lose that first game, and it’s really tough to advance. You’re playing everyday, and you’ve got the pitching rules that you have to abide by.”

Newport Harbor was the champion of both the Los Alamitos Youth Baseball Invitational and the Dana Point Summer Classic. The team is 14-3 in summer play, a record that now spans four different tournaments.

“We all play as a good team together, and we all like each other,” said cleanup hitter A.J. Swies of the team’s keys to success. “Usually, [the other teams] think we’re just a bunch of pretty rich boys.”

Two of the three losses ? both to Dana Point ? have been relatively meaningless.

One of the losses came in a pool play game where both teams had already advanced to the championships. Another of the three losses came at the Section Tournament on Sunday, when both teams had already advanced to the Region Tournament.

Newport Harbor also played well in bouncing back from the other loss, a 5-1 setback to Los Alamitos on July 13 in the first round of the Section Tournament.

The Bronco All-Stars rebounded to win two consecutive elimination games to qualify for the Region Tournament.

“My real passion is football,” Tony Swies said. “I think it’s kind of comical how I’m winning more in baseball than I ever have in football. But Newport Harbor baseball has really upgraded since we’ve gone to sponsorships. It’s just given us a lot more resources.”dpt.20-nhba-swies-CPhotoInfoG81T3QO420060720j1lnczncCredit: CHRISTOPHER WAGNER / DAILY PILOT Caption: (LA)A.J. Swies, shown here making the catch at first base in a recent game, helps lead the Newport Harbor Bronco All-Star team into the Region Tournament.