The No. 7-ranked Natchitoches Central baseball team opens a three-game LHSAA Non-Select Division I playoff series at home this evening against 10th-seeded central of Baton Rouge, while St. Mary’s is in Monroe today to battle defending Select Division IV state champion Ouachita Christian.
Both games begin at 6 o’clock. NCHS will play at Chad Hargis Field on the school’s campus along the La. 1 Bypass. St. Mary’s, seeded 14th in its division, visits the No. 3-ranked Eagles of OCS in a contest that will be broadcast locally on 100.7 KZBL FM.
The Chiefs, in their second straight 20-win season, had a first-round bye while Central dispatched Zachary in two games last weekend.
NCHS is 23-7 while Central is 24-8. The three-game series continues with Game 2 Friday evening at 6, and if necessary, the third game will be played at 1 o’clock Saturday at NCHS.
St. Mary’s, 20-12, will take on a 22-6 OCS team that has won 11 of its last 12 games. The Eagles clipped the Tigers 2-1 at this point of the 2023 playoffs, and then steamrolled their final three opponents to capture last year’s state championship.
The LHSAA sends its larger division schools into three-game playoff series until the state tournament, while the smaller schools play single games each round in their postseason brackets.