Trinity Lutheran baseball coach Ben Kleber says his youth baseball camp keeps getting bigger every summer.

This week Kleber, along with his assistant coaches and members of the Trinity Lutheran baseball team, have been working with 72 boys. He said the first year he held the camp he had 15 campers.

“That is the biggest,” he said. “It continues to grow. Last year we set a new high with 61, so we are up about 20.”

The campers were divided into three age groups, incoming kindergarten-first grade, second-third grade, and fourth-eighth grade.

“The little kids, we want to show them how to throw the baseball, how to catch the baseball the right way so we don’t have guys getting hit, catching it underhand and such,” Kleber said. “Then we want to teach them how to run the bases, and the proper way to field a ground ball, stay in front of it.

“Then when we get to the second and third graders, it turns more into how to go catch a fly ball with drop steps and stuff like that.

“Same way with the ground balls. Now we talk a little more about getting around ground balls instead of just keeping it in front of you, around and to the base.

“The base running gets a little more advanced for them when it comes to ‘this is how we round the base, this is how we go to second base etc.”

The older group went through more advanced drills on the varsity field.

Kleber said, “We’ll talk to the older group about approach because they’re getting ready to go into that kid pitch.”

A.J. Dusablon said this was his third year attending the camp.

“I like hitting,” the right-handed batter said while taking extra batting practice in the indoor hitting facility after camp. He said he was working on taking level swings.

“We did pretty well,” he said about his team that played in a league in Seymour this summer.

“I like to play third base,” he said, adding that he worked on his fielding and making accurate throws to first base at the camp.

He also plays basketball and flag football, and said he attended a basketball camp earlier this summer.

Dusablon said he enjoys watching his favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals, on TV.

Bradley Behmlander, an incoming fifth grader, said this is the third year he has attended the Trinity camp. “It sounded fun,” and said it will help his baseball skills.

“I worked on my fielding (Wednesday). Baseball is fun and competitive. It’s an outdoor game and I like being outdoors. The Detroit Tigers are my favorite team.”

Behmlander said he enjoyed hitting in the ‘hitting barn’ Tuesday. “You can hit ‘nukes,’ and it’s just fun to hit. I like to hit it to second, shortstop or third.”

He also enjoys playing basketball and tennis.

Cole Brooks, an incoming eighth grader at St. John’s Sauers said, “I came to the camp to get better.”

He said this is his fourth year attending the camp. “I’m going to work a lot on my hitting.”

He said he played on a Seymour travel team this summer. “We won a few tournaments. I like playing as a team and hitting.”

Brooks also plays basketball and football and said he attended camps in those two sports earlier this summer.

The campers hit inside Tuesday because of the rain, then took part in different events on Wednesday that included a home run derby, a running contest to see who the fastest kid in the camp was and a throwing contest to see who could throw the ball the furthest. Thursday was a fun day, and that included sliding where the campers slid on the water, and there was a water balloon toss, and Wiffleball games.

“The numbers are great, the kids are great, it’s awesome to see familiar faces each year,” Kleber said.