NATCHEZ — A few Mississippi professional baseball players are hoping to instill the love and knowledge of the game into some local youth.

Barry Bowden, a pitcher in the Kansas City Royals’ minor league system and a former Southern Miss standout, is hosting a baseball camp Saturday at Vidalia High School along with three other former USM players.

Brian Dozier of the Minnesota Twins organization will help with the infield, Bo Davis of the San Diego Padres organization will assist with the outfield drills and Trey Sutton, who was drafted by the San Francisco Giants, will work with hitting.

“We have so much knowledge of the game, having played throughout high school, college and now pro ball,” Bowden said. “We hope to share what we know with the kids and have fun with it at the same time.”

Chris Rayborn, a former pitcher for the Padres organization who now manages Advance Sports, will also assist Bowden with the pitching portion of Saturday’s camp.

“We have a good group of instructors,” Rayborn said. “Barry asked me to help so I can share what I’ve learned from the game.”

Rayborn, aside from teaching drills, also wants to instill work ethic into the kids attending the camp.

“I want to teach the guys to work hard and be humble. There’s always someone who is as athletic as you are,” Rayborn said. “If they’re working harder than you, they’ll get ahead.”

Registration for the camp will begin from 8 to 9 Saturday morning, and the camp will begin shortly after registration. The camp will run until 3 p.m.

“It would be nice to see a good turnout,” Bowden said. “Hopefully there will be a lot of interest. I know when we were all younger we loved going out to the ball field.”

The registration fee is $75; lunch and drinks will be included. The age group for Saturday’s camp will be 6-14.

An “older guys” camp will be on Sunday, Jan. 16, for a fee of $50. Contact Bowden at 601-431-5596 for more information.