NATCHEZ — The Trinity Episcopal baseball team might be a little late to the show, but the defending MAIS Class A state champions are ready for a new challenge.

With a move up to Class AA that includes South powerhouses Centreville Academy, Central Private School and Brookhaven Academy, the Saints’ road to another state title is much tougher.

But the Trinity players, who just started full-squad practices Monday since the boys basketball team went as far as the state tournament, are ready for the task at hand, senior third baseman Daniel Dunaway said.

“This year we’re going to have better competition, so it’s going to fuel the fire a little bit for us so we don’t get complacent,” Dunaway said.

“It’s going to be fun. Last year, I wanted to play some better competition, and this year we’re getting to do that.”

Trinity head baseball coach Mitch Ashmore said he realizes the challenges that lie ahead, but he said he’s trying to keep things simple for his club at the moment.

“I don’t think there’s any question that the ball clubs that are out there are very good teams,” Ashmore said.

“We’re going to have our hands full. What we want to be able to do is compete and make the playoffs. That’s our goal; that’s what we want to accomplish. Once you do that, anything can happen.”

Dunaway said since a lot of the South teams are familiar with each other, it adds to the excitement when they match up.

“We’re all rivals, and we know each other — most of us do,” Dunaway said. “So we play as hard as we can against each other.”

With Monday being the first full-squad practice for Trinity, Ashmore said his main priority right now is getting the players’ mindsets adjusted to the game.

“I’ve been through it many a time, and the main thing is the ability to get these guys ready to play,” Ashmore said. “We understand it’s not so much our record, but what we do, what our goals are and making the playoffs.”

Trinity returns ace pitcher Jake Winston, who finished last season with a 1.18 ERA with 102 strikeouts and just 25 walks in 59.33 innings pitcher. The Southern Mississippi signee allowed only 10 earned runs, and opposing batters hit just .120 against him.

But Ashmore said Winston wasn’t the only player he was expecting big things out of this season.

“I think (first baseman) Sky Logan can do a lot of things for us, and Daniel Dunaway is a very nice player,” Ashmore said. “He’s coming off knee surgery (for an ACL injury), so we’ll take our time with him.”

With other area teams having already played in live games, Ashmore said he’s just happy his players are able to all practice together for the first time this year.

“I know they all have to jumpstart, but it really doesn’t matter,” Ashmore said. “We had some chances to play some exhibition games, but (ultimately) we were not able to do that.”

But Dunaway insisted that it wouldn’t be a problem, since most of the guys were used to jumping from basketball to baseball.

“We’ve had this problem every year with basketball,” Dunaway joked.

“Most of the time we can just jump right into it. Whenever we start working, we’re working hard, so it won’t take long for us to get ready.”