HOUSTON -- A different group of Houston athletes took the field at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday afternoon, and while the competition was light and fun, the prize money was serious.

Ten players from the NFL's Houston Texans participated in the sixth annual Reliant Energy Home Run Derby to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston, raising $30,800 for the nonprofit organization.

The players were in five teams of two, each competing for the most base hits and home runs. Each player was awarded $500 per home run, $250 for a ball that hit the wall, $100 for a hit to the warning track and $50 for a base hit.

"The last couple years we really didn't raise as much money as we wanted to," said Reliant spokesperson Manny Rodriguez. "We wanted to make this to a point where we could raise some money, so we made the home runs worth a little bit more and made the base hits worth something, and it showed."

Children from the Boys and Girls Clubs were invited to watch, as kicker Kris Brown, tight ends Mark Bruener and Owen Daniels, long snapper Bryan Pittman, guard Chester Pitts, quarterbacks Matt Schaub and Sage Rosenfels, linebacker DeMeco Ryans, defensive end Mario Williams and offensive tackle Eric Winston tried to hit one out of the park.

Winston, a former high school baseball player, was the story of the day with four home runs. Three of his dingers went so far -- into the upper deck in right field -- they were awarded $1,000 a piece, and he raised a total of $9,250.

"He's lobbing it up there for us, but these are Major League Baseball players," Winston said. "It's really hard to hit a baseball off a pitching guy, much less anybody else. If I can do anything close to what these Astros guys do, that's great. I knew I could hit a couple, but I'm glad I got some good wood on it."

Even the Astros' big hitters were impressed with Winston's power. Some of the Texans said they were worried they would lose the 6-foot-7, 310-pounder to the diamond.

"That's awfully nice of them, but if they came out here and hit, I'm sure I'd be impressed too," Winston said of the compliments from the Astros. "I'm the first person to tell you I couldn't do this for a living. But with all these screaming kids out here, you want to get as many hits as you can, because you know it's for a good cause."

Winston and Williams gave Team Black the win, partly because of Winston's homers going such a great distance. Team Black was tied in money total with Team Orange (Daniels and Schaub) at $10,450 each.

Many of the players had not picked up a baseball bat in years. Williams ($1,200) said the last time he swung at a pitch was in middle school. While he had some hard hits, most went into center field. Astros left fielder Carlos Lee yelled at him to hit to the Crawford Boxes if he wanted to homer.

"Last year [at] this time was the last time I picked up a bat, at the last Home Run Derby," said Ryans, who hit one home run and raised $1,600. "I loved playing baseball when I was growing up, since kindergarten, when I first started. It was my first love, baseball, and it's always good to come out and help the kids."

The quarterbacks raised a total of $9,450, showing some of the most power on the team. Rosenfels hit five home runs, and Schaub hit four.

Schaub said he would rather hit one fewer than Winston, to keep his protector on the gridiron happy.

"A couple of times it hit the top of the fence, and I needed to hit a few of those out of here or else I was going to catch some grief from my teammates," Schaub said. "It was a lot of fun. We want to keep doing this thing for a while. Now that the rules are a little different and you can still score by hitting a base hit, you don't have to worry about trying to over-swing at every pitch to try to get a home run."

Pitts, who raised $1,250, struggled to get one over the wall, and although he hit no home runs, he still came away sweating. Pitts said he has a new respect for baseball players.

"I need to take a knee," Pitts yelled after his turn. "Anyone with calves this big shouldn't be on the [diamond]. What about these calves says 'baseball player?' Absolutely nothing."