The travel youth baseball team the Chobee Dirtbags are hosting a tournament on Oct. 3 and 4 here in Okeechobee.

Seven baseball teams from around the state will compete in the tournament.

"We've been trying to put something like this together for two years," said Dirtbags head coach Ruben Guerrero. "We're going to have two umpires at every game and scoreboards, which a lot of the other tournaments don't have, believe it or not. Little things like that helped draw these other teams to our tournament."

The tournament is being held on the baseball fields at the Okeechobee Sports Complex and will function as the first of a few fundraisers planned in the coming years. The Chobee Dirtbags hope to eventually raise enough funds to travel to a tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y.  in 2022.

Cooperstown is considered a baseball mecca and is the location of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  

Locals in Okeechobee who attend the tournament to cheer on the Dirtbags will get in for half-price if they wear purple. Prices range from $10 per day to $15 for the entire weekend.

The games should be fun to watch as the Dirtbags will be taking on some old rivals they've battled with recently in other tournaments.

"We've played every team in this tournament before," said Guerrero. "I'll be honest, the most talented team will be the one from Palm Beach.  They're sponsored by Warstiq and they're really good. But we were able to beat them in a championship game not too long ago. They're going to be coming to Okeechobee looking for some revenge. "

"If we played that team ten times they probably beat us five times and we probably win five times," continued Guerrero. "They're really good  so we have to play our best baseball."

Games begin at 9 a.m. on Oct 3 and the Chobee Dirtbags will take the field for their first game at 11 a.m.