Opportunity has come knocking and Jack Bello has the door wide open.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound righthander was a central piece of the Dawgs Academy pitching staff at the inaugural Road to Okotoks, striking out nine in 9.2 innings in two games against the rival Sylvan Lake Gulls Prep, including six innings in the Morneau Cup-clinching 11-5 victory.
Just 10 days later, he was back on the bump at Seaman Stadium as a member of the Western Canadian Baseball League Dawgs, tossing an inning of hitless relief, striking out two against the Gulls.
Bello finished the summer college season with four appearances, including one in the postseason against Sylvan Lake where he struck out two in 2.2 innings.
The Richmond, B.C. native isn’t done yet though, as he’s getting ready to head close to home with the Blue Jays Academy Canadian Futures Showcase set for September 17-20 in Vancouver.
The Washington State University commit took some time recently to answer a few new questions for our latest 1 Thru 9 to go along with a few thoughts from his visit with us on Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast.
1. How excited are you to get things going at the Canadian Futures Showcase?
I’m very excited to be taking part in this prestigious event. It’s amazing to be apart of this talented group of guys. And I’m super excited to play against the best competition in Canada.
2. What are you hoping to take away from that experience?
This is a surreal experience being able to play this level of ball, so I’m really just trying to take it all in and enjoy the moment.
3. Do you have any goals or expectations of yourself going into it?
I’ve given myself a couple goals for this tournament: competing to the best of my ability and hopefully winning it all in that championship game.
4. It’s been a busy year for you. Take me back to The Road to Okotoks and claiming the inaugural Morneau Cup. What did it mean to you to win it all with that team?
Honestly, it was an amazing experience. Getting together with the boys, training all year long, it’s what we all wanted to do. Winning it for the town especially, too, was just a lot of fun.
5. How cool was it to do it on home turf, defend the home territory and win the very first one?
Yeah for sure. For us, it was all kind of like we felt we had to win it just to represent, especially because we’re the host team and everything. It was really cool and really exciting. Great to win the first one as well.
6. You’re young enough that you will be doing it again in about a year’s time. What will that mean to you to try to come back as defending champions trying to repeat?
It will be amazing. I mean, we’re going to try and win it all every year. Hopefully we’ll continue that tradition of winning the Morneau Cup as Dawgs.
7. You also had the opportunity to play for the Western Canadian Baseball League’s Dawgs this summer. How surreal was that going from selling 50/50 tickets on the concourse to suiting up on that field with that team?
It’s great. It’s amazing. All the college guys … they are a really good group of guys. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them and we were playing some good baseball. I loved it.
8. How much of that experience was about playing and how much of it was just soaking in some of the knowledge from those veteran guys who have been around the college ranks for a while?
Honestly, it was just good to hear their experience with their colleges and stuff like that. Just getting the ropes of what to do once you get there. It’s nice to know from a firsthand experience type of thing.
9. You have also officially announced your commitment to Washington State University. What made you decide that was the place you wanted to go?
The coaching staff and everything there just seemed to fit with exactly what I was looking for. I’ve heard really good things from a bunch of guys. It seems like a great program, so I’m very excited to go.
