By BRET H. MCCORMICK, Journal Sports
Glenmora will host a best-of-three playoff series this weekend, while Pineville and Peabody will both hit the road after the LHSAA released baseball playoff brackets for its five Select and Non-Select divisions on Tuesday.
Pineville, the No. 17 seed in Division I Select, is one of three Rapides Parish schools to make the playoffs in the state’s largest division and one of 10 parish teams to make the baseball postseason.
The Rebels (10-18) will travel to New Orleans to face 16th-seeded Warren Easton. The winner of the series advances to face the state’s top-ranked team, Catholic High of Baton Rouge.
No. 6 ASH and 10th-seeded Tioga both received first-round byes. The Trojans (17-10) will host No. 11 Riverdale for a best-of-three series on April 26-27, while the Indians (16-11) will travel to face No. 7 Brother Martin.
The state’s five Select brackets feature 20-team fields with the top 12 receiving first-round byes, except in Division V, which has only 10 teams. Non-Select brackets feature 24 teams with byes going to the top eight seeds.
All teams in Rapides Parish play in Select divisions. Division I, II and III feature best-of-three series during the first three rounds of postseason play, while Divisions IV and V are single elimination. All games at the state tournament in Sulphur, which includes the semifinals and finals, are single elimination.
After starting the season 1-15, Pineville won nine of its last 12 games. Coach Cullen Guerriero said the Rebels had some players step up into key leadership roles late in the season.
“After the loss to Ruston at Ruston (on March 22), we had a heart-to-heart talk in the outfield,” Guerriero said. “It was one of those deals where basically we can either go 1-30 or we can do something different. What do we have to lose? After that, we started to play more loose and more free. We just got after it.”
ASH coach Greg Briggs said he feels “pretty good” about where the Trojans are heading into the playoffs. Sophomore Jaxon Ross has emerged as a reliable shortstop, while freshman Jack Lee has been phenomenal on the mound along with a solid senior class of Chase Cook, Ben Eskew and EJ Scott.
“Everybody always says they’re young,” Briggs said. “I get it. Everybody is always young. We’ve got three seniors and the three seniors we have are contributing immensely. I feel pretty good about where we are.”
Briggs, in his fifth year with the Trojans, said this is the deepest team he’s had and he hopes that pays off in the postseason.
“We have more options this year than I’ve ever had,” he said. “Guys to come in to pinch hit, relief pitchers, courtesy runners and pinch runners. It’s kind of been a collective group effort.”
Peabody (7-22) will travel to face No. 14 Kenner Discovery at Mike Miley Playground in Metairie. The teams will play a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday. If the two teams split those games, the decisive third game will begin at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Buckeye (21-8) and Menard (20-8) both received the No. 4 seed in their respective brackets. The Panthers will host the winner of No. 13 Evangel and No. 20 McDonogh 35 in the second round of the Division II playoffs, while the Eagles will face the winner of the 13-20 matchup in Division III between Fisher and Haynes.
Glenmora (17-9), the 14th seed in Division III, is the only parish seed that will be hosting a best-of-three series in the first round as the Wildcats welcome No. 19 Beekman Charter. The teams will play at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday and up to two games on Friday starting at 4 p.m.
Grace Christian, the No. 2 seed in Division V, is the highest-seeded team in the parish and one of three parish teams in the state’s smallest postseason classification.
The Warriors (24-9) will host the winner of the first-round matchup between No. 7 Downsville and No. 10 Northside Christian. Fifth-seeded Rapides (14-16) will travel to Baton Rouge to face No. 4 Family Christian in the quarterfinals.
No. 8 Oak Hill (7-20) will host No. 9 Episcopal School of Acadiana at 5 p.m. on April 24 in the first round with the winner advancing to play at top-seeded Avoyelles Charter.
Grace dropped a pair of games, 4-2 and 5-3, last month to lose the District 5-B title to Avoyelles Charter, last year’s state champion. Warriors coach Josh Brown, whose team is seeking its first state title since 2017, said his players know a potential rematch against the Vikings looms, but they can’t worry about that just yet.
“Right now, our focus is on what we’ve got to improve on,” Brown said. “We’ve got to refocus. We’re gonna heal up and take a little break before a tuneup game. … We’re preaching us, us, us and not really talking about the opponents.”
Brown said he wished the Warriors could play a best-of-three series like the larger classifications because he feels good about his team’s pitching depth led by seniors Kanyon Wright and Seth Cook, junior Maddox Attales and eighth-grader Logan Maricle.
“The past three times we’ve been (to the state tournament in Sulphur), I feel like we’ve got one dude and if he comes off the mound we’re in trouble,” Brown said. “Now we’ve got four guys. We feel good with our pitching staff.”