With the longest high school baseball season on record in the rear view mirror, a number of tantalizing matchups beckon for area teams as they hit the postseason this week.
Iola, Humboldt, Crest, Marmaton Valley and Yates Center all took full advantage of a new rule allowing teams to play in as many as 26 games this year, up from the traditional 20.
The change allowed those teams to beef up their schedules in addition to their traditional league contests or rivalry matchups.
Iola, for example, added state powerhouses like Kansas City’s Bishop Ward, McPherson and Rock Creek to an already loaded schedule with rivalry games against Chanute, Burlington and Anderson County.
Now, the Mustangs carry a 15-10 record into the Class 3A Regional Tournament with a much better taste of high-stakes baseball.
The other schools did much the same. Humboldt took on foes Osage City, Frontenac and Burlington, emerging through that gauntlet with a 17-4 mark, and the No. 1 seed in the same Class 3A Regional shared with Iola.
The Mustangs will host Wellsville (5-15) at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Allen Community College baseball diamond, with the winner advancing to face either No. 2 Burlington (16-6) or No. 7 Osawatomie (5-12) next Tuesday at Garnett, the host site.
Humboldt will host eighth-seeded Prairie View (5-15) at 5 p.m. Thursday as well, with the winner taking on either Anderson County (11-10) or Heritage Christian Academy (12-11) next Tuesday.
Those semifinal winners will advance to Tuesday’s championship game, with a berth in the Class 3A State Tournament on the line.
The state tournament runs May 23-24 in Manhattan.
CREST (17-4) carries the No. 2 seed in its Class 2-1A Regional Tournament and will host No. 7 Northern Heights at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The winner advances to face either No. 3 Pleasanton (12-6) or No. 6 Jayhawk-Linn (6-14) next Monday at regional host Central Heights High School in rural Richmond.
Southern Lyon County (12-3) is the top seed, and will open against the play-in winner Lyndon (2-14) or Marais des Cygnes Valley (0-17) Wednesday. The winner faces either Central Heights or Waverly on that side of the bracket.
Marmaton Valley (14-10) and Yates Center (5-15) are in the 2-1A regional hosted by Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan.
Marmaton Valley is the third seed and will host Erie at 5 p.m. Friday. Yates Center, the seventh seed, meanwhile, travels to No. 2 Uniontown, also at 5 p.m. Friday. The winners of those two matchups will square off next Wednesday in Pittsburg.
