SULPHUR — There will be no surprises when No. 3 Sam Houston and No. 2 West Monroe meet today in the state baseball tournament at McMurry Park.

On the other side of the nonselect Division I bracket, 12-time state champion No. 1 Barbe will try to reach the final for the fourth time in five years.

The Broncos and Rebels (29-8) have met the last two seasons in the playoffs. But Sam Houston (32-4) wants a different result after today’s 5:30 p.m. game after losing by one run three times to the Rebels.

“It is the same every year, you just have to play good clean baseball to win,” said Broncos head coach Chad Hebert. “If it is meant to be, it is meant to be. There is no magic trick or something that you are going to do differently.

“West Monroe, Barbe, Benton are all good teams. We are going to have to play somebody good this late in the season. West Monroe is just a really good club. They have proven that. You just have to get over the hump of the semifinals is how we look at it.”

Last year, Sam Houston owned a two-run lead before the Rebels scored three in the bottom of the seventh in the semifinals In the 2022 quarterfinals, West Monroe swept the Broncos 5-4, 4-3.

Sam Houston is the lone team in the nonselect Division I semifinals that swept its regional and quarterfinal series.

“We just pitched and played defense and we got timely hitting,” Hebert. “In the quarterfinals, we got hits when we needed to, executed when we needed to and got everything going.”

Hebert said Sam Houston will throw either Griffin Hebert (7-0, 1.16 ERA) or Nik Toups (9-2, 1.65 ERA).

Barbe (33-6), winners of 18 of its last 19 games, will face No. 13 Benton (31-10) at 5:30 p.m.

“The same thing with the past two series,” Barbe head coach Glenn Cecchini said. “(Benton is) really good, obviously. They upset the five and four seed. They have really good pitching and athletic guys.

“Like always, we respect everyone and fear no one. They are in our way. I stay consistent with that message. The bottom line is our goal is to win a state championship. We have to win this game.”

Benton is making its first appearance in Sulphur as a Class 5A team and first since reaching the semifinals in 2019 as a 4A school. The Tigers have won 13 of their last 14 games and took out the No. 4 Dutchtown and No. 5 St. Amant in the last two weeks.

Barbe pitchers Diego Corrales, Lawton Littleton and Owen Galt have combined to pitch three shutouts in the postseason with four earned runs between them in 331/3innings. Cecchini said he knows who he will start on the mound, but is keeping it close to the vest until game time.

“We have confidence in all three,” Cecchini said.

Select Division II

St. Louis Catholic (24-10) has won big in the playoffs to make its fourth consecutive semifinal appearance. But the Saints must get past No. 5 St. Thomas More (21-15) to reach the final for the first time since their state championship run in 2021.

“We know they are a scrappy bunch and will play hard regardless,” St. Louis head coach Connor Lloyd said. “They are not going to beat themselves. They are a really solid ball team. I think we are too.

“I think it is going to be a really good matchup. I don’t think they are a typical five-seed either. I know the five seed is still a good seeded team, but I think they are just as good at one, two three and four.”

The game will start at 11 a.m. today.

In four playoff games, the Saints have outscored opponents 59-0.

“As a team, we feel really good,” Lloyd said. “We have had two really good days of practice so far. Mentally we are in a good place. We have a lot of things clicking for us right now in terms of pitching, defense and offense. We are confident going into it.”

The teams split a pair of games in the regular season with STM winning 9-1 and St. Louis taking the second game 8-0.

The game will likely bring a big pitching matchup between the teams’ No. 1 arms in STM’s Wilton Taylor, a Louisiana-Lafayette commitment, and the Saints’ KeMonni Pullard. Since returning from an injury, Pullard is 3-0 with one save, including a five-inning perfect game in the regional round.