Hall of Fame
Coach Whoa Dill’s 2011 Bulldogs – empowered by an adopted turtle named Rally – had a flair for the dramatic and proved it when they won the JUCO World Series at Sam Suplizio Field in Grand Junction, CO, for the first time in school history. J.T. Files hit a two-run walk-off home run in the 10th inning to give the Bulldogs an unforgettable 6-4 win over Central Arizona
in the championship game of the double elimination tournament. The traditional ‘dogpile’ occurred like none before as the 46-18 Bulldogs jubilantly celebrated their prize. The Southern region champions went 5-1 at Grand Junction, where they were embraced immediately as a first-time entry from Texas with a head coach named ‘Whoa’ and a team that ‘rallied’ behind a nurtured, pampered turtle found on their home field.
Navarro barreled past Southern Union State (15-5), Iowa Western (9-1) and Chipola (3-2) in the winner’s bracket and avenged a loss to Central Arizona three days earlier to win it all. Six Bulldogs (David Harris, Garret Autrey, Wes Theiss, Casey Grayson, J.T. Files, and Christian Stringer) hit over .300 during the series. Future major league pitchers Austin Pruitt and Drew Verhagen were aces, but series wins also were recorded by Ryan Wysocki, Tyler Carter, Marshall Davis, and closer Justin Thomas (2 saves).
