A group of teenage baseball players, their coaches and fans left from Huber Park on a charter bus late Wednesday night and made the 15-hour drive to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the Junior League Baseball Southwest Region tournament.

The Mid-City 13- to 14-year-old all-stars have their hopes set on qualifying for the Junior League Baseball World Series.

The Mid-City All-Stars will begin play at 8 a.m. Saturday against the winner out of host West Mesa, New Mexico, and Texas East (Victoria), who play today.

It is the second consecutive year that Mid-City Baseball League, which is in its 70th year, qualified a team for a regional tournament. Last year the 15- to 16-year-old team went 3-2 in the Senior League Southwest Regional in Sequin, Texas, losing in the semifinals.

Mid-City went 3-0 in the state tournament, outscoring its opponents 34-4 and beating the Avoyelles Americans 7-0 in the final on July 17.

The regional tournament starts today and runs through Aug. 8.

Six teams will play in the double-elimination tournament, and the champion advances to the World Series on Aug. 13-20 in Taylor, Michigan. Other teams include Colorado (Colorado Springs), New Mexico (Roswell) and Texas West (Lubbock).

The champion from each of the six United States regionals — Central, East, Michigan District 5, Southeast, Southwest and West — will advance along with the six international regional champions — Asia-Pacific, Australia, Canada, Europe-Africa, Latin American and Puerto Rico — to the World Series.

Mid-City is looking to return to Taylor, Michigan, for the first time since 1992 when it finished runner-up to Arizona. It was the first time that a team from Louisiana qualified for the Junior World Series.