The Minden Crimson Tide are two victories away from a trip to the state tournament.
Minden (25-10), the No. 14 seed, will be looking for its second straight upset in the quarterfinals of the non-select Division II playoffs against No. 6 North Vermilion (20-12). Game 1 of their best-of-three series is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. in Broussard.
Heavy rain was sweeping through the area Friday morning, which resulted in the game being pushed back an hour and moved from Maurice to Abbeville.
Minden is in the quarterfinals for for the first time since 2012.
The Tide defeated No. 19 Beau Chene in the first round at home and then upset No. 3 Brusly on the road. Both series went the distance.
Minden has gotten some outstanding pitching performances from Zander Rowell, Brody Bower, Jaxon Smith and Landon Brewer in the playoffs,
Jakobe Jackson batted .500 (6-for-12) with three extra-base hits in the Brusly series. Bower batted .455 (5-for-11). Landyn Huddleston is batting .421 (8-for-19) in the playoffs
North Vermilion had a first-round bye. The Patriots also needed three games to win their second-round series against No. 11 Assumption.
After dropping the first game, North Vermilion won the next two 13-1 and 4-3.
The Patriots finished fourth in District 4-4A. Champion Teurlings Catholic, runner-up Lafayette Christian and third-place St. Thomas More are all in the select Division II quarterfinals.
North Vermilion is in the quarterfinals for the third straight year. The Patriots won the Class 4A state championship in 2021 and were runners-up in 2022. Last year, they were the No. 2 seed in non-select Division II but were swept by No. 7 seed and eventual state champion Iowa in the quarterfinals.
The winner of the Minden-North Vermilion series faces the winner between No. 2 Iota and No. 10 Pearl River in the semifinals Wednesday at Sulphur’s McMurry Park, site of the Ochsner LHSAA Baseball State Tournament.