NATCHEZ — Blaine Burgess stood before his team on the practice field Thursday and delivered a stern message.

“Let’s line up down the right-field line and look like real ball players,” Burgess shouted.

The 7-year-old Dixie Youth Natchez All-Stars obliged and proceeded to warmup in a way reminiscent of a team playing well beyond their age.

Burgess said his squad has hit the practice field hard of late in preparation for Saturday’s Dixie Youth tournament at Duncan Park.

The Natchez squad will serve as the host to the seven-team tournament set to begin Friday.

The team has remained hard at work, going through a litany of batting, throwing and fielding drills.

Burgess said the most important factor this weekend will be his team’s ability to execute the fundamentals.

“We have to make sure that everybody is learning how to back each other up,” Burgess said. “That’s the main thing; we’ve got to be able to throw and catch the ball.”

The Natchez head coach said his squad has demonstrated a strong ability in practice of understanding the importance of the little things that go into the game.

“They understand the backups that we need,” Burgess said. “They understand we have to have a backup from right field covering behind first base. We have to have a backup behind second base when the ball is hit to the left (side of the defense), and we throw to second for the out, and same thing for third. We have to have somebody backing up every throw.”

Burgess added he believes his team perhaps holds an advantage, as the majority of his players have competed together for approximately one year.

“They’ve stuck it out,” Burgess said. “We generally play kids that are a year older, and sometimes we do better than other times. But I’m looking for a positive outcome next week. I hope we get our heads right, and come out ready to play ball.”

While Burgess’ squad remains hungry for a win, the experience is what proves most important.

“I really love it to death,” Burgess said. “It gets to be an ordeal sometimes, but for the most part, I love it. I’ve got nicknames for half the kids, and I just like playing around with them.”

The tournament kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday, and Natchez will play its first game at 9 a.m. Saturday against the winner of the Walthall-Pike Nationals contest.

“Hopefully, Friday evening, when the tournament starts, we’ll have a good idea on who we’re going to be playing,” Burgess said.