Avon Little Leaguers Interview Red Sox Pitcher Craig Beslow, Tour Fenway and NESN

They may be playing at Sperry Park now, but 12 Avon Little League baseball players got a taste of the big leagues earlier in the summer.

The players, chaperoned by five parents, were invited to partake in a NESN program called "Little League Sundays" on Father's Day after another Connecticut team backed out.

"Because of NESN's connection with Fox61, which has many employees in Avon, they then asked us to be involved," Avon Little League coach John Couture said.

He thanked Avon resident Richard Graziano for helping make the connection with the NESN program. Graziano serves as publisher, president and CEO of the Hartford Courant as well as general manager of FOX CT and WCCT-TV, according to his bio on the ct1media.com website. 

The boys, a sampling of the players involved in Avon Little League, were given tours of the NESN studio and Fenway Park in Boston, Couture said. They also had the chance to ask Red Sox pitcher Craig Beslow and NESN host Jim Rice questions.

"The highlights for the boys included: sitting in the dugout and sitting on the monster seats in Fenway, getting a history lesson about the final outs (baseball) of the 2004 and 2007 World Series, and, of course, speaking with Red Sox pitcher Craig Beslow and HOFer Jim Rice about their little league careers," Couture said.