SAXONBURG — When it comes to playing tournaments, this group of Saxonburg 9-year-old baseball players doesn't play around.

Now in its third season of playing together, the Saxonburg Area Baseball Association's 9-year-old tournament team has won 10 tournaments and 43 of 49 games in those events.

All six losses have been by one run.

"The core of this team just doesn't like to lose,"head coach Rhett Stobert said. "They work well together and they're always focused.

"These aren't big, strong kids. These are determined kids."

Since beginning all-star play together at age 7, Saxonburg has won the Center Township Tournament three times, the East Butler, Saxonburg and Evans City tournaments twice each and the Middle Road tournament once.

Saxonburg's 9-year-olds recently played in the West Middlesex 10-year-old tournament and proved competitive there, winning a game 15-3 while losing by 6-4 and 10-9 decisions.

"We didn't hit as well as we usually do,"assistant coach Mark Evanchec said. "If we bring our bats, we fare a lot better there.

"The kids feed off each other and pick each other up. They are team-oriented, which is nice to see at that age."

Nine of the players have been together all three years. They include pitcher-third baseman Addis Crouch, pitcher-shortstop Bryan Jack, pitcher-second baseman Alex Stobert, first baseman Matthew Cornetti, left fielder Dominic Bozzo, pitcher-center fielder Nicholas Guercio, catcher-pitcher Christian Evanchec, catcher-outfielder Jeremy Frazier and right fielder Hunter Koller.

Val Panger, Austin Warman and Aiden Albert are also on the team. Mike Crouch and Andy Bozzo are other assistant coaches.

"Our pitching has been phenomenal,"Coach Stobert said. "At the Center Township tournament, we gave up four runs the entire weekend."

The defense isn't bad, either.

"Our kids will play a six-game tournament and make maybe one or two errors,"Coach Evanchec said. "That makes a big difference."

Saxonburg's next tournament is at Pine-Richland June 29 through July 3. It will also compete in the Cal Ripken Tournament in Aberdeen, Md. July 7-8 and Franklin Regional Tournament July 14-15 before hosting its own event July 20-22.

The Ripken Tournament is a 12-team event featuring teams from New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and the Philadelphia area. Games will be played on replica fields of Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards.

"We just wanted to play some better caliber teams and expose our kids to a different side of baseball, in terms of competition and environment," Evanchec said.

Among Saxonburg's victims in Western Pennsylvania tournaments are Mars, DeHaven, Penn Hills, North Hills, East Butler, Center Township, Karns City, Evans City, Butler City, Butler Township, Fox Chapel, Zelienople, North South Buffalo, Plum, Grove City, Ingomar, Meridian and Indiana Township.