A dream baseball weekend — again

CHICAGO - Three years ago, Brady Gromacki of Iowa City got the 'opportunity of a lifetime,” an invitation to compete at Wrigley Field in Major League Baseball's official skills competition.

On June 6, this dream became a reality for a second time.

Gromacki won the regional competition hosted by Iowa City Boys Baseball on May 5 at City Park, which advanced him to the sectional competition on May 7 in Bettendorf. He won there, too, and his score was high enough to earn him a second trip to Wrigley Field, competing against other 13-14 year old boys from Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois.

PHR (pitch, hit, run) is a competition that measures the accuracy of a pitcher, distance hit from a batting tee and the speed of a runner. Click here for more information on how to set up a competition next year in your region.

Iowa City Boys Baseball has been hosting this regional competition for four years, and this is the third time it has sent one of their participants to Wrigley Field. In 2016, Tyler Wilkinson competed in Chicago after winning the regional and sectional competitions in his age group.

Gromacki finished in second place at Wrigley this year and was able to cash in on free Cubs-Cardinals tickets after the event, a game which featured a Cubs win and a grand slam. Gromacki has one more year of eligibility in this contest, and hopes to advance one more round in 2018.

The top three scores in all 30 Major League Ballparks for each age group receive an all expenses paid trip to compete at the All-Star Game.