(Source) - Dozens of young baseball players from surrounding states are in the New River Valley this weekend all hoping to hitting a home run.
The Nations Baseball World Series is in the area for its second year and its making an impact.
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"We've got teams from Athens, Ohio, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Virginia Beach," said Randal Morris the area director of the Nations Southwest Virginia.
No matter where they're from each team has their eyes set on winning.
"Just team work and working together," said Wyatt Campbell, a 12 year old playing for the Duke Dawgs. "It's fun because there are a lot of good teams and good competition."
For five days players from ages nine to 15 and their families pile into the New River Valley playing on 13 fields including ones at Virginia Tech and Radford University.
It is the Nation's Baseball World Series Championship. It's back in the NRV for its second year and was previously played in North Carolina. Last year there were 31 teams, this year there are 62 teams.
"It's a real big deal," Morris said. "Every team in this event has played in a qualifying event to be able to come and a lot of these teams have kids from several different counties."
Christiansburg is scoring big on this too. More than 1,000 hotels rooms have been rented out in the area because of these games. Mayor Mike Barber says events like these bring in revenue to the town.
"We will obviously benefit from the meals taxes and the lodging taxes but it's above that. It's a chance for these kids to come and play on high caliber fields," Christiansburg Mayor Mike Barber said.
The games wrap up Sunday where the champions of all levels will be crowned. Those winners have the option to go to a tournament in Florida.
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