The first week of district play in 3-5A and 4-3A will pit familiar faces against each other in big-stakes baseball games, as Barbe will face Sam Houston in a pair of games to start the 5A race, while Iowa and South Beauregard will meet twice in 4-3A play.

Barbe and South Beauregard will be at home today, with Sam Houston and Iowa hosting return games Thursday.

The Barbe game may be moved to McNeese if the Barbe field takes too much rain. It will start at 7 p.m. regardless of location.

In the last completed baseball season, the Bucs beat Sam Houston in the Class 5A state championship game, while South Beauregard beat Iowa in extra innings in a Class 3A semifinal en route to a runner-up finish.

The Bucs and Broncos remain among the 5A favorites and enter the game nationally ranked. The Bucs (19-0) are ranked second and Sam Houston (17-2) is eighth in the Maxpreps national rankings.

Bucs head coach Glenn Cecchini said he’s happy to just be playing after most of the 2020 season was cancelled due to the pandemic.

“We have an attitude of gratitude,” he said. “We’re really embracing just having the chance to play. The kids have been really resilient. They are taking it one pitch, one play at a time. Once a play happens, its dead. You have to forget it and move on to the next one.”

The Bucs have had few forgettable moments.

“Our pitching depth is better than it has ever been, we have been good defensively and we are hitting well above .300,” he said. “We have good leaders. We were down in a game 4-0 in the sixth inning. Donovan Lasalle spoke up. Kyle Debarge spoke up, Crawford Courville, Gavin Guidry; I had never seen that many guys step up.”

Cecchini said the Bucs will need to be at their best against the Broncos.

“They were undefeated until the weekend, are on a really good run,” he said. “It is a rivalry game. We are going to have to be ready on every pitch, every play.”

In 3A, South Beauregard (15-2) and Iowa (9-7) are frequent foes, having met in the 2017 championship game as well. The Golden Knights have won 10 of the past 11 games while the Yellow Jackets won 2 of 3 in a weekend series against Kinder, the 2019 Class 2A state champion.