The Babe Ruth 16-year-olds’ Southwest Regional may be something new for Vicksburg, but many of the teams coming in to play have had their share of experiences.

One of the first things to change for tournament host Marshall Upton was Friday’s opening day game times.

&#8220Originally we had it starting at 2 and going 2, 4, 6 and 8 but that wasn’t enough time between games. So now, we’re looking to start at 11 a.m. on Friday,” Upton said Monday before going over instructions with the two local teams that will make up the eight-team field. The tournament will use a double-elimination format.

Mid-County, Texas coach Jimmy Collins said the original times wouldn’t have worked.

&#8220If they started at 2 (p.m.), they’d be playing the last game around midnight,” Collins said Monday by phone from Nederland, Texas.

Collins knows a lot about how these regionals work.

&#8220I’ve been to about 20,” he said. &#8220I’ve mainly coached our 17-and-18-year-olds teams, but I have the 16s this year.”

Mid-County is one of six visiting teams that will round out the field with the Vicksburg Gators and Flashes. They are the East Texas state champions.

Last year, Mid-County finished as the Babe Ruth national runner-up in the 16-year-olds’ division, losing to Newark, Ohio, at the World Series in Monticello, Ark. They are defending Southwest Regional champs.

&#8220Our 16-years-olds play in our 17-18-year-olds’ league. So they’ve faced good competition all summer,” Collins said.

The other team from Texas will be Tri-County out of Weimer. Tri-County coach Tom Supak remembers stopping in Vicksburg on the way back from the 2002 Babe Ruth 14-year-olds’ Southwest Regional in Meridian.

&#8220I remember being at that visitor’s center overlooking the river,” Supak said Monday.

&#8220I have still have nightmares from that regional. We lost the final to Meridian 6-5. We dropped a fly ball in center that let them tie it and then lost it on a passed ball,” Supak said.

&#8220I also remember that home run that big kid of theirs hit,” said Supak of the home run hit by Meridian’s Cordera Eason.

Warren Central fans may remember Eason running over the Vikings for 180 yards and three touchdowns in a 2005 football game at WC. Eason is now a redshirt freshman running back at Ole Miss.

&#8220We had a good team that year. Seven of them are playing college baseball,” Supak said. &#8220The team we’re bringing to Vicksburg this time is not as talented. It’s basically made up of players from some little towns in Texas, halfway between Austin and Houston.”

Tri-County will open against Vidalia, La., at 11 a.m. on Friday.

The Vicksburg Flashes, a team made up of players from St. Aloysius with a bit of Warren Central mixed in, will open against the Remington Bullets of Lone Oak, Ark., which is just outside of Little Rock.

The Bullets finished second in the South Arkansas state tournament in Camden, Ark.

&#8220We got beat by Union County twice, 6-1 and 7-3, in the finals of our state,” Remington coach Roy Lewis said. &#8220Because Union County won, they get to go on to the World Series in Bentonville. We get to come to Vicksburg.”

Friday’s third game at 5, will have the Mississippi champs in Central Mississippi playing Fort Smith, Ark. Central is comprised of players from Morton, Forest and east Rankin County.

The host Vicksburg Gators will play Mid-County in Friday’s final game.

&#8220We would get the best team,” cracked Gators coach Jamie Creel on Monday.

The visiting teams are set to arrive Thursday afternoon. A banquet has been scheduled for 6 p.m. at City Auditorium. Millsaps baseball coach Jim Page will be the guest speaker.