Baseball, kids, and Cooperstown n it doesn't get any better than that!

After attending a Boys of Baseball (BOB) school, Michael D'Arville, Pete King and Tate Welch of Luverne were selected as members of the Boys of Baseball National Travel Team (BOB-NTT) that played in the Cooperstown Dreams Park 10U Invitational Tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y., June 13-20.

They were three of the 15 players from eight different states chosen to play on the BOB-NTT.

The organization is an educational and youth development baseball opportunity that fields selected teams to compete in tournaments throughout the U.S., and was one of the 64 10-year-old teams that participated in the Cooperstown event.

The team lived together for the week in an on-site clubhouse, and played eight games. Their record of 6-2 is the best a 10U BOB-NTT has ever achieved. All three of the boys started at various positions throughout the week, and each hit well over 300 for the Cooperstown Dream Park tournament. The team finished 15th out 64 teams, and at the conclusion of the tournament, the BOB-NTT members were inducted into the American Youth Hall of Fame, received the coveted American Youth Hall of Fame ring, and officially became a member of the Cooperstown Dreams Park Majors.

Their coach, Jimmy Koliatis, was extremely impressed with the team's results.

"To bring a team together for one week and have them perform the way they did was amazing," said Koliatis. "Winning six games was great, however, what impressed the coaches more than anything was how many close games they won, and how many times they came from behind to win."

The trio has also been selected to participate with the 11U BOB-NTT in the Winter Invitational Tournament in Gainesville, Fla., to be held Dec. 5n7, 2003.