BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — West Virginians are up to bat as Major League Baseball makes its mark on the area.

The city of Beckley and Linda K. Epling Stadium partnered with RCX Sports to join the group of venues across the country to host the 2023 Pitch, Hit and Run and MLB Jr. Home Run Derby Competition on June 1, 2023.

Both events are free to join and watch. Athletes ages seven to 14 can sign up for the pitch hit and run. While ages 12 to 16 can step up to the plate in the softball and baseball Jr. homerun derby.

Kendrick Epling lead the charge to bring the event to our area and wants to make it one of the biggest around.

“It’s a huge opportunity for the community, we don’t have a lot of things like this that comes around we usually have to travel. I know in the southern part of the state we usually have to travel to go places to do things like this so getting this to come to our back door is really exciting,” said Epling, the local event coordinator.

While sign-ups through the MLB are not available, Epling said interested families can reach out to him directly at kendrickeplingbaseball@gmail.com to sign up.