TAMPA, Fla. — On Sunday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas 12 year old Christian Gaines of Valrico, Florida was in the finals for MLB's 27th Annual Pitch Hit & Run event.

The 7th grader from Seffner Christian was one of five players who made it to the finals of the 11-12 year old division. Christian went into the event representing the Tampa Bay Rays.

This was a long time coming, Christian worked for months to get ready for the finals and he won all the national qualifying events to make it to the games biggest stage.

So on a day off in between World Series games two and three between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks, Christian took to the field and beat out his five competitors for the title.

In the event, each competitior gets to hit five balls off a tee, throw five balls at targets and be timed for their speed from home plate to first base. The scores for all of the events are added up and the highest over all total wins.

Leading up to Sunday's finals, Christian has been working with Tony "Red" Morrison, a former Major League ball player who owns Tony "Red's Baseball and Softball Academy in Tampa.

This was Christian's first time ever going to the World Series and just the second time he has ever flown on a plane so there were a lot of exciting moments leading up to his final performance.

"I have been watching videos of other people doing it and it looks really fun" explained the 12 year old as to why he decided to get into the event.

Christian's hard work payed off, winning the National Championship in the 11-12 year old division.

His mom said his school didn't even know he was competing in the event, which was quite the surprise when he went back to school and told his coaches and teachers on Monday.