For Lucas Drancsak, a journey towards baseball immortality begins this August, when the Geddes All Stars travel to Cooperstown, N.Y.

“It's a really exciting experience,” Drancsak said. “I hope to be in [the Hall of Fame] one day.”

For Drancsak and five other Auburn Little League players, the chance to play baseball on the fields of Cooperstown has gone from a dream to a reality. Drancsak, Joe Schillace, Matt Covich, Nick Fiermonte, Matt Nolan and Conor Herr have all been selected to play for the Geddes All-Stars, a team of Little Leaguers coached by Jim Alford. The team will travel to Cooperstown the weekend of August 11th for a week-long trip, better known as the “Field of Dreams” Tournament.

During that time, the team will practice and play games every day, according to Jim Drancsak, Lucas' father. The kids also get to stay in town and take in the atmosphere.

“The cost works out to about $1,000 per kid,” Jim said. “But that covers food and lodging for the whole week.”

The Geddes team is one of 96 youth squads from all over the country attending the annual event. And though all of the games are essentially exhibition games and no champions are crowned, that doesn't mean the Auburn crew isn't playing towin.

“We're all feeling good about it,” Fiermonte, a center fielder, said. “We're very excited, and we deserve it.”

Fiermonte and company are no strangers to the taste of victory. Just last year, as members of the age 10 to 11 Auburn Little League All-Stars team, the group came within two wins of being state champions. The team was victorious in both the District V and Sectional tournament, before finishing fourth in the state.

“That was just awesome,” Schillace said. “We practiced so hard and the crowds at the games were big.”

The talent on the Auburn All-Star team was evident, and it was even more clear at the try-outs for the Geddes All-Stars. Some of the players traveled to West Hill High School in Syracuse, while others tried out in Jamestown during the sectional tournament. In the end, six of the 13 players on Geddes' final roster were players from the Auburn All-Star team, something that Jim Drancsak said is just profound.

“A couple of kids have gone before in the past,” Jim said. “But this is the most ever at one time.”

All six of Auburn's players acknowledge that playing with so many familiar faces is a comforting bonus.

“It's a good experience and we'll be playing good competition,” Covich said. “I'm definitely glad that the other guys are going. I wouldn't want to be there by myself and not know anyone.”

Visting the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown is something a number of the kids have already done. But trotting out on to one of the many fields in the shadow of the historic Hall of Fame is something entirely different.

“It's so awesome,” Schillace said. “I think they have something like over 20 fields. I can't wait.”

But first things first. Before they travel to Cooperstown in about a month, the Auburn All-Stars have some unfinished business they'd like to take care of. After defeating Northern Cayuga 8-2 on Thursday, Auburn will play Geneva at 6 p.m. tonight for the Districy V Championship, which they of course won last year.

With any luck, Auburn will again advance to the final four of the state. Though, with this much talent on the field, it might be their opponents who need the luck.

Doubledays a 10-5 win over Aberdeen.

IronBirds shortstop Jedidiah Stephen became the hitter to watch in the seven spot of the lineup after a second-inning RBI triple that tied the score. He roped the second home run of the game in the fifth, a solo shot to center field. A single in the seventh left him stranded, but the improbable double came with no outs in the top of the ninth as it rolled down the left field line. His impressive hitting and two runs weren't enough to help Aberdeen top the Doubledays, who fittingly, have now won seven in a row.

“How about that,” Auburn manager Dennis Holmberg said. “I thought 7/7/07 was lucky for (Stephen), but I can't believe we've got seven in a row on 7/7/07. Maybe that's a good omen.”

It sure started out that way when catcher J.P. Arencibia (three runs) grabbed everyone's attention with a two out, solo home run to center field in the first. Stephen's homer later gave the IronBirds their only lead of the game, but Auburn responded with a four run bottom of the fifth, in which Aberdeen committed three infield errors and Aubrey Miller allowed four hits in the mix.

Ben Zeskind (two doubles, two runs) and Manny Rodriguez (two RBI, two runs) were credited with RBIs in the inning. The IronBirds cleaned up their defensive play in the sixth, but Miller had a tough time getting strikes and earned his first loss of the season after facing 12 batters. Nathan Nery allowed the Scobee grand slam, but the runners were already on base because of Miller. The hit couldn't have come at a better time for the Doubledays outfielder.

“The last few days, I had been working on not going forward so much and staying on my back leg,” Scobee said. “The last two starts, I felt really good even though I didn't have much to show for it. My swing was there and I stuck with it and tried to take my pitches.”

With 14 hits, it was the first time that the Doubledays have out-hit their opponents in July. Aberdeen wasn't going down without a fight though, scoring a run in the eighth and two in the ninth, collecting 12 hits overall. Scobee and Victor Santana led with three hits each for Auburn, and Brett Cecil picked up his first win of the season. The southpaw went five innings and struck out five but allowed two runs, his first of the season.

“Cecil kind of struggled through his innings a little bit, but the pitching overall was good enough tonight,” Holmberg said. “We scored enough to overcome the 12 hits and five runs, but you've got to give a lot of credit to the kid who hit for the cycle, that's a big accomplishment in the game of baseball.”

The win also gives the Doubledays (13-6) sole possession of first place in the Pinckney Division and they have the second best record in the New York-Penn League.

They host Aberdeen (6-12) for Game 2 of the series, today.