They’re a year older, a year wiser and a year savvier. But like most other boys at 14 years of age, they’ve grown like weeds through a crack in the driveway.

The Natchez 14-year-old Dixie Boys All-Stars have plenty of experience heading into the state tournament starting today in Kosciusko. It’s this group’s third straight trip to at least the state tournament and a chance to return to the World Series after claiming the state title last year.

Confidence and ability are way higher than the previous two years, and the All-Stars will go at it starting at 5 p.m. today against Grove Park of Jackson.

&uot;We’re taking a little more relaxed attitude this time,&uot; said coach William Barnes, coaching the group for the third straight summer. &uot;Last year at this time we were doing two-a-days. This year we played a lot more league games than we did last year. A lot of them played school ball, too, and their coaches did a good job.

&uot;I’m not necessarily going to say it’s more laid back, but I guess that’s what you can say.&uot;

And it’s mostly the same players as the last two years with impressive pitching and fielding along with above-average hitting. Now that most of the boys are entering high school this fall, they’re hitting the growth spurts most boys do at that age.

That’s why if you compare team photos from the past two seasons, this year’s picture looks a little different.

&uot;Everybody has gotten stronger, bigger and faster,&uot; said pitcher Matt Barnes, who will likely pitch next spring for Adams Christian along with teammate Dustin Carroll. &uot;Everybody has been playing high school ball, and they’ve been playing for a while. I’d say we’re better than last year. We just have to play harder.&uot;

Chalk part of that to the players hitting the weights at their respective high schools. Then toss in the fact that the team for the most part has played together for quite some time &045; spanning back farther than the three previous seasons of making at least the state championship game.

Eleven players are back from last year, and additions include Parker Brumfield and Robert Wilson.

&uot;Dustin, Matt, Duncan (Guedon) &045; all of them have grown pretty well,&uot; William Barnes said. &uot;A lot of them are in the weight room now. I think everybody has pretty much stepped up in that area. That’s another reason we cut back a little bit &045; as long as they were doing something, we were fine.&uot;

Said outfielder Ja-Mes Logan: &uot;We’re better &045; faster, bigger and stronger. We’ve been playing together for a long time.&uot;

The area of concern may still be the offense, an area the team has never really been dominant in recent seasons. But give credit to the team for putting runs on the board during the district tournament, including a 12-2 win in five innings over Brookhaven in the championship game.

It may still be a work in progress for a team that’s almost lived and died by pitching and defense.

&uot;We got hits when we needed them,&uot; catcher Jesse Morrison said. &uot;(Monday) was our best, but I didn’t think we showed what we can do. That was the first step. After that first game, we relaxed and started playing baseball.&uot;

Now the pitching will get tougher in the state tournament as will all phases of competition. The All-Stars made it through last year with offensive outbursts at times &045; a 7-6 win in Game 1 over Hattiesburg in the state championship before claiming Game 2 3-1 &045; and have the potential.

Most of it is manufacturing runs with aggressive baserunning and bunting.

&uot;It’s hard to say as far as production,&uot; William Barnes said. &uot;We faced better pitching, but our production was down district. Last year we averaged about 10 runs a game, and this year it was a little under eight. I’ve never had a group have a lot of power.

&uot;We’ve got a lot of speed, we take the next base and we get a lot of stolen bases.&uot;