The third time was indeed a charm for 10-year-old Trevor Cogley of Hayden.

On June 21, shortly after the Seattle Mariners lost 6-2 at Safeco Field to the Houston Astros, Cogley went to work in the Major League Baseball Northwest Pitch, Hit and Run championship.

And yes, the Spokane-born, Hayden-raised Cogley is a pretty big Mariners fan, as noted by the big Mariners banner on the front lawn of the home of his parents, Phil and Lori Cogley.

"I had six pitches and I tried to hit a target (from 46 feet away in front of the pitcher's mound)," Cogley said. "We hit off a tee, I had to hit three balls as far as I could and straight. In the run part, they time you and you start two-thirds of the way toward second base. You touch third and you touch home."

Trevor scored a total of 896 points in the 9-10-year-old boys age division, defeating Drew Abercrombie of Victoria, British Columbia, and Vikranth Mandadi of Sammamish, Wash.

Trevor's parents and older sister Melissa; his cousin Carter Friesz, who was also a Northwest PHR competitor at Safeco Field in the 13-14 age division, plus his grandparents, John and Patricia, were all in the stands and they watched the game before the contest. Trevor got changed into his uniform in the eighth inning of the ballgame.

"They were pretty good," Trevor said of his competitors in Seattle. "I tried my hardest."

With the fact Trevor got an autograph from Mariners center fielder Austin Jackson and it was like a dream for the youngster - yet it's only just beginning.

FOR TREVOR's hard work - or play, however you want to put it - the right-handed hitting, right-handed throwing Cogley is now among 24 national finalists who will compete in the National Pitch, Hit and Run Finals before Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby.

At noon PDT on Monday at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Cogley will represent the Mariners and he will compete against Minnesota Twins rep Ethan Manock of Wahpeton, N.D., and San Francisco Giants rep Gregory Palamountain of Lafayette, Calif. He will fly to Cincinnati - he has never been to the Midwest - with both of his parents. This fall, Trevor will be a fifth-grader at Atlas Elementary in Hayden.

In the beginning, there were approximately 625,000 youth of all ages around North America, as they competed in more than 4,400 events.

Trevor, who won the running portion in his first two attempts, could not quite get the pitching and hitting portions down. But after working with Friesz, who is the son of former Coeur d'Alene High, University of Idaho and NFL quarterback John Friesz, Trevor advanced to the second round at Croffoot Park in Hayden and out of several competitors at various spots across the northwest, from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, along with Canadian provinces Alberta and British Columbia, Trevor scored enough points to advance to Seattle.

In addition to that, Cogley is from the same city as 14-year-old Haley Loffer, a freshman this spring for the Lake City High softball team. Cogley is playing as an outfielder and pitcher for the Hayden All-Stars. The national Pitch, Hit and Run office said in the 19 seasons of the competition, it is rare for two participants to be from the same city.

"It's pretty cool," Trevor said. "I started out knowing her, I've seen her a lot."

After the competition, Trevor will have the added benefit of shagging some fly balls from Home Run Derby participants. One of them was originally going to be his favorite MLB player, Seattle designated hitter Nelson Cruz, but he recently said he will not participate in Monday's contest, because he doesn't want to get worn down and wishes to put his energy into helping Seattle win more games. However, he will play in the All-Star Game, after he was voted in by MLB fans worldwide.

"He hits a lot of home runs," Trevor said. "Catching fly balls is cool."

Oh and by the way, Trevor and his parents will watch the MLB All-Star Game the next evening, on Tuesday, at Great American Ball Park. His father and he have free tickets as well.

"It was so awesome watching him (compete at Safeco Field)," said Lori Cogley, who works in customer service for Pioneer Title. "We're excited for Cincinnati."

TREVOR HAD the advantage of having someone in the family like Carter who he could look up to and practice with.

"He said, 'I want to go to Safeco like Carter'", said Phil Cogley, who is a police officer at the Spokane International Airport. "Hitting off of a tee affected his hitting in Little League, so we're backing off that a little bit. His pitching at Safeco was on flat ground, in front of the third-base dugout."

Trevor is from an athletic family and he also plays football, mostly receiver, and forward in basketball. Melissa plays basketball and volleyball and attends Woodland Middle School in Coeur d'Alene. Phil played baseball and basketball at Medical Lake High just outside Spokane and Lori, John Friesz's sister, played basketball at Coeur d'Alene High.

So log on to www.pitchhitrun.com to track Trevor's progress.

Who knows, perhaps he could tack on another title. And possibly ask for Cruz's autograph as a cherry on top of the All-Star sundae.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, via e-mail at bbourquin@cdapress.com or via Twitter @bourq25