Photo by MudflapDC

This year’s annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity is tomorrow and, although the Democrats have pretty much dominated in recent years, the GOP thinks this might be their year, the National Journal reports.

In an article appearing in the June 8th edition, National Journal’s Ben Terris profiles Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.)—the 34-year-old first-term House member from Florida—who is the GOP’s ace in the hole this year. According to Terris, the Republican team thinks DeSantis is their answer to the Democrat’s star pitcher, Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), “who is universally considered the best congressional baseball player in memory” and has led the Democrats to sweeping victories the past two years.

DeSantis, a former Navy officer who was captain of the Yale University baseball team in 2001, has apparently been crushing balls during the Republicans’ practice, Terris says in an interview with WAMU. “I watched them practice, and on the first pitch he saw, he hit at over the fence of their practice field in Alexandria.”

Though the game is all in good fun and raises money for charity, the Congressional players still take it pretty seriously: There’s often trash talk between players and members of Congress are some of the most competitive men in Washington.

If anything, this year’s game promises be quite the showdown, so there’s no reason for fans to resort to reading books or newspapers, or doing homework during gameplay.