The 2018 MIAA baseball state tournament pairings were released Tuesday morning and there’s no shortage of local teams in the running for a state championship. The state tournament gets underway Thursday.
In Division 1 North, a pair of local Northeastern Conference teams qualified for the tournament. Peabody finished its regular season at 12-8 and drew the No. 7 seed. The Tanners, in the tournament for the 26th consecutive season, host No. 10 Lawrence Thursday (4).
“It’s par for the course for us,” Tanners coach Mark Bettencourt said. “Like we’ve been doing all year, we have to find ways to score runs against a good pitcher. It’s a state tournament atmosphere. We’ll be at home. We don’t have to travel. We just have to come ready to play.
“I hope everything we’ve learned over the course of the season culminates into a good state tournament run,” Bettencourt added. “It starts Thursday. We have 11 seniors and every game could be their last. We have to play our best baseball.”
Classical finished its regular season at 11-9. The Rams drew the No. 8 seed and host No. 9 Lincoln-Sudbury Thursday (4) at Fraser.
“They’re a well-coached program with a long history of winning,” Classical coach Mike Zukowski said. “They play in a competitive Dual County League with multiple teams that qualified for the state tournament. We’ll do our best to prepare and come ready to play Thursday.”
In Division 2 North, a pair of local teams will clash against one another. St. Mary’s finished the regular season at 13-7 and drew the No. 11 seed, meaning a visit to No. 6 Danvers Thursday (4). The Falcons went 14-6 in a season that saw coach Roger Day win his 500th game.
“Danvers is a very good team,” St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana said. “Roger Day has had an outstanding program for a long time. We have to be ready to go. They like to run, they have good pitching and there’s a couple big bats in their order. We want to stay focused, play good defense, pitch well and hit the ball when we need to.
“We’re excited,” Dana added. “It’s Division 2 North. It seems to be a competitive bracket. Tough opponent out of the gate but we’re looking forward to it.”
Also in Division 2 North, No. 3 Beverly hosts No. 14 Tewksbury Thursday (4). No. 9 Salem visits No. 8 East Boston Friday (4).
In Division 3 North, five local teams made the cut. The Lynnfield Pioneers are the highest seed of the local bunch. Lynnfield finished the regular season at 16-4 after winning the Brendan Grant Tournament. The Pioneers drew the No. 2 seed and host No. 15 Saugus Thursday (4). The Sachems are 10-10. Bishop Fenwick went 12-8 during the regular season. The Crusaders drew the No. 12 seed and visit No. 5 Latin Academy Thursday (4).
“I’m proud of our guys for making the tournament this season,” Fenwick coach Russ Steeves said. “We battled through a little adversity and have come out a stronger team. All the teams that make the tournament are there because they’ve proven they can win. We need to to play our best baseball every inning.
“I’m proud of our team and our program,” Steeves added. “We’re looking forward to Thursday.”
Swampscott drew the No. 13 seed and visits No. 4 O’Bryant Thursday (4). Also No. 6 Gloucester hosts No. 11 Triton Thursday (4).
In Division 4 North, Lynn Tech ends a 17-year drought with a long-awaited state tournament appearance. The Tigers, under first-year coach Rich Germano, finished the regular season at 9-9. Tech drew the No. 14 seed and a trip to No. 3 Hamilton-Wenham Friday (4).
Also, No. 16 Winthrop qualified for the tournament under the Sullivan Rule. The Vikings (4-15) visit No. 1 Lowell Catholic Thursday (4).
