The Capital City Invitational is a perfect tournament to gauge just where you're at in the season or how far you'll have to go to get there.
Jefferson City, Helias and Blair Oaks get a chance to see how they measure up, as the three teams kick off today's opening round.
The Jays, who were handed their first loss of the season in a 13-3 setback Wednesday by Francis Howell Central, open the tournament at noon against Blue Springs at Vivion Field.
The Wildcats, who were 4-5 heading into Thursday's game against Fort Osage, will have no sympathy for the Jays. But that's how Jays coach Brian Ash wants it.
"We open up with Blue Springs and that's the way I want to start, with a tough team and see where we're at," Ash said. "If we play like we did (Wednesday), it's going to get ugly.
"But we'll be ready to go."
The Jays (6-1) will look to right-hander Paul McMahon to put them into a winner's bracket game, which would start at 5 p.m. at Vivion.
"It will be a good test and a good gauge for all the teams in this to see kind of where they're at because it's going to be a dogfight," Ash said.
Helias is on fire, heading into today's game with a perfect 6-0 record.
The Crusaders want to keep their streak going when they take on Rockwood Summit (2-6) at 2:30 p.m. at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
"Rockwood Summit is a good team, they've improved every year they've been in the tournament," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. "We're going to have to play good baseball."