Baseball great Yogi Berra coined the term “It’s like deja vu all over again.” While the phrase left many scratching their head, several young ball players in Troy are living it.

Both the Troy Dixie Minors and Dixie Minor Rookies won district tournament titles to advance to their respective state tournaments.

The two teams are made up a primarily of members of the 2012 Dixie AA World Series Champions.

Troy Dixie Minor Rookie head coach Chris Huner said the group of youngsters have a love for the game that is needed for success.

“They are a really competitive bunch that love this game of baseball,” Huner said. “Each and every one of them have the desire to get better. They put in the work at practice and it shows. They are a good group of ball players.

Four members off of last year’s AA World Series Champions, Bailey Sparrow, Darryl Lee, Press Jefcoat and Drew Nelson, are on the roster for the Dixie Minors and six players, LaQuavian Rodgers, Skylar Kidd, Brady Huner, Nathan Braisted, De’Andrey Henderson and Ben Reeves, make up the bulk of the roster on the Dixie Minor Rookies.

Dixie Minor head coach David Nelson said the group of players is willing to work hard in order to attain success.

“They have talent, there is no doubt about that,” said Nelson. “But they also are willing to practice hard and often to get better on certain things.”

Nelson also said that the group showed similarities to former recreation tournament teams that found success at higher levels later in their careers.

“The teams on the billboards are Franklin were made up of some guys that helped Charles Henderson win a state title this year, and Pike a few years ago. Winning early does a lot for their desire to keep playing later in life.”

The Dixie Minor Rookie team’s state tournament begins this weekend in Muscle Shoals.

The Dixie Minor State Tournament begins July 19 in Oxford.