Aruba, an independent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is a small Caribbean island no more than 30 kilometers long.

One of the most popular sports on the island is baseball with a number of Arubans making it to Major League Baseball, this season the 18U team has come over 2,000 miles to take part in the Babe Ruth League World Series in Cape Girardeau.

With just over 100,000 residents in Aruba, the team does not get the luxury of a huge population from which to get players, with less population than all 50 U.S. states. Aruba Babe Ruth League Commissioner and team manager Eldwin Geerman said the team is happy to be here and will do their best to win a championship for their country.

“My team consists of kids from all over our island of Aruba. So it's not based on one neighborhood, it's about the whole island,” Geerman said. “We are just a 30-kilometer island, we aren’t so big, so we pick up the best of the best and try to come up here, play our best and try to win.”

Just as the U.S. has a Little League for kids to learn to play baseball Aruba also has a Little League established in 1958 and in 2010 a team from Aruba won the Senior League World Series. Geerman said the Little League helps field older teams such as the Babe Ruth teams and increases their odds of being able to come for this tournament.

“We have little league also, but we just combine the teams at older ages so we try to work together and try to make several teams happen,” Geerman said. “So the Little League is for the state tournaments, then afterward, we go up to Babe Ruth, and if we win the Caribbean tournament we’re able to come here.”

While winning enough games to travel to Missouri has been exciting for the Aruban team, something not so fun is the cost of the travel. Geerman said it is up to the players’ families to fund their travel but as long as the boys get to play, no one minds so much.

“It takes one year of planning in advance because of the expenses of everything falling on the parents. We don't get sponsored by anybody, so everything falls under the parents so they have to make their own way,” Geerman said. “They find a way to make the money for the kids to come over here. So, everybody has to pay for everything, hotels, food and rental cars, everything we have to pay for ourselves. But it's a great experience for the kids, all we try to do is for the kids to enjoy playing ball.”

Aruba fell short 5-4 against Texas on Friday but one loss does not eliminate them from anything, Geerman said the team got their nerves out of the way and they are now ready to play like he knows they can.

Aruba will take on the defending champions, the Southeast Tropics, on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Capaha Field.