First Timesland, now the world.

Zack Helgeson helped Hidden Valley to the VHSL Group AA baseball championship game last spring and earned first-team All-Timesland honors with 10 home runs, 43 RBIs and a .437 batting average.

Saturday in Florida, he expanded his fame.

The Hidden Valley senior outslugged 62 other competitors when he won the International High School Power Showcase Home Run Derby at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

Helgeson smacked eight home runs in the preliminary round and cleared the fences in the Tampa Bay Rays' home park eight more times in the finals.

Facing a pitching machine, each of the five finalists got 15 "outs" -- swings that did not produce a home run -- during the final session.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Maryland signee had to sweat out the attempts of the last two contenders -- Nick Carrillo of Glendale, Ariz., and Matt Marquis of Annandale, N.J.

"The kid from Arizona had three home runs and had just two outs so I'm pretty worried," Helgeson said. "But then he just hit one more home run with his last 13 outs.

"I'm sitting there starting to wonder what the odds of a kid from Roanoke, Virginia, are of winning this thing."

Pretty good, it turned out.

Marquis, a Vanderbilt signee who was the leader after the preliminary round with 13 home runs, hit just four in the final. Fortunately for Helgeson, the first-round totals did not count toward the final score.

"Had it been the other way around, I don't know if I would have caught the kid with 13," he said.

During Friday's first batting practice session, Helgeson was simply hoping to clear the fence once.

Helgeson flew to Florida on Thursday and showed up Friday for BP at 2 p.m., Friday at Progress Energy Park.

"I think I missed the first 10 pitches I saw," he said. "The machine was set on 85 miles an hour and the ball was jumping all over the place. Fortunately we had 15 minutes of straight hitting and I was able to dial myself in or else people would have been saying, 'What is this kid doing here? He needs to go home.' "

Helgeson also got off a slow start in Saturday's preliminary round, where each batter got 15 "outs" with a wood bat and 15 more with a metal bat.

"I've never thought of it being a big difference between using wood or metal, but I only hit one out with the wood bat so I guess there is," he said.

Helgeson was invited to compete in the event by organizer Brian Domenico, Power Showcase President, and head coach at Olympic Heights High School in Boca Raton, Fla.

"Apparently there were some criteria for it, but I'm not sure what the criteria are," Helgeson said. "He talks to scouts and coaches all over the country. Somehow he got wind of me in Virginia."

From a pre-event banquet in Tropicana Field's restaurant overlooking center field to competing on a major-league diamond, it was an unforgettable weekend for the Hidden Valley senior, who returned to campus just in time for winter exams.

"It took awhile for it to sink in," he said. "I don't think it really sunk in until today at school."

Not before Hidden Valley coach Jason Taylor applied a splash of cold water.

"I called back home and Coach Taylor said, 'You know what you've done, don't you?' " Helgeson said. " 'You've made it so nobody is going to pitch to you now.' "