MARS — Play together, learn together ... win together.

The 2014 11-under Mars Dust Devils have carried that process to the PONY Bronco-11 International World Series in Chesterfield, Va.

The Dust Devils became the first team to ever represent Mars in a PONY World Series.

“I’m thrilled, the parents are excited ... I don’t think the kids appreciate the magnitude of their accomplishment just yet,” team manager Edwin Palmer said.

Five of the team’s 11 players — Alex Heavner, Nolan Kush, Brett Palmer, Teddy Ruffner and Max Totzke — have played tournament baseball for Mars since age 6. In the summer of 2009, their tournament team won six games and lost 13.

Since then, the Dust Devils have gone 105-36-1, winning 20 tournaments.

Most of the team’s other players — Zach Schlegel, Mitchell Schultz, Dawson Cadamore, Jack Pawlowicz, Caiden Schmitt and Ethan Pendarvis — have been playing for the Dust Devils since age 7.

“Watching these boys develop into ballplayers, learning the game together over time, has been exciting,” Palmer said. “It’s been a lot of fun.

“They play to the final out. They never give up. That showed in our last tournament.”

The Dust Devils went 3-0 in the East Zone Tournament, played in Cranberry Township, defeating the Bonnie Seals of Brooklyn, N.Y., twice and Washington (Pa.).

In their first game against the Bonnie Seals, the Dust Devils trailed 8-2 before scoring seven runs in the fifth inning. A two-out, two-run single by Pendarvis scored Schultz and Schmitt to give the team a 9-8 lead.

Kush closed out the win with 3.2 innings of shutout pitching as the Dust Devils won, 11-8.

They defeated Washington, 15-5, before edging the Bonnie Seals, 6-5, to win the tournament.

Tied 5-5 in the seventh, Ruffner drew a lead-off walk and scored the winning run on a double by Palmer. Ruffner pitched three shutout innings to close out that triumph.

“Pitching is our strength,” Palmer said. “We go seven kids deep there.”

The team’s earned run average is 2.25 with 94 strikeouts in 112 innings pitched. Five pitchers have ERAs below 2.00.

Offensively, the Dust Devils are hitting .370 and have three players hitting above .500.

The Dust Devils are 16-3 in tournament play this season.

“Some of these kids play ball together on an AAU team, too,” assistant coach Todd Ruffner said. “Some of these guys have played close to 70 games this year. It’s a lot of repetitive stuff.”

Ruffner emphasized how much the players love baseball.

“They’ve been at this since January, when they’d go to the Lakevue Athletic Complex once a week,” he said. “We’re practicing twice a week now and the kids never get tired of it.”

Mars begins World Series play at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, taking on the Asia-Pacific Zone winner. The Dust Devils will also play West Zone winner Los Alamitos, Calif., and Mexico Zone winner Veracruz, Mexico.

“These kids have gotten better each year,” Palmer said. “They know each other well and they play for each other. Last year, we lost in the Zone Tournament.

“They fought their way to this point. We’ve gotten clutch hits from the top of the batting order to the bottom. It’s just great being a part of this.”

The East Zone Mars is representing covers 17 states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, East Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.