Five area baseball teams are scheduled to start state tournament bracket play today with sectional contests.
The Blair Oaks Falcons (19-11) will make the trip to Lamar to take on the Tigers (12-8) in a 5 p.m. contest in Class 3. Blair Oaks is ranked No. 9 in the latest Class state poll by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association.
It's the first sectional game for the Falcons since 2016, when they lost 7-5 on the road to eventual state champion Mountain Grove.
With a win, Blair Oaks would host the winner of today's sectional between second-ranked Summit Christian (19-5) and Lawson (17-8) in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
The other four area teams are all from the Show-Me Conference.
In Class 3, the Fatima Comets (12-14) will take on Houston (16-9) in a 5 p.m. contest in Westphalia. It is Fatima's first trip to the sectionals since 2015.
If Fatima wins, it would either host Ava (17-5) or play at Clever (15-11) in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
The South Callaway Bulldogs (23-8) will play at Palmyra (22-4) in a Class 3 game slated to start at 5 p.m. It's a state-ranked clash as South Callaway is No. 6, while Palmyra holds down the No. 1 spot.
With a win, South Callaway would host Whitfield (9-6) or play at Montgomery County (15-8) in Wednesday's quarterfinal round.
South Callaway defeated Mountain Grove 13-2 in the sectional round last year before falling 2-1 to eventual state runner-up Strafford in the quarterfinals.
The Russellville Indians (19-9) will host Skyline (19-7) in a Class 2 sectional contest. Game time is 5:30 p.m. They met in the Class 2 third-place game last year, with Russellville posting a 6-4 victory.
Russellville is ranked No. 6, while Skyline is ranked No. 10.
With a win, Russellville would either host Adrian (15-5) or play at Lone Jack (17-5) in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
The St. Elizabeth Hornets (14-3) will begin their bid to return to the Class 1 Final Four when they travel to Hughesville to take on Northwest (17-6) in a 6 p.m. contest.
It is a rematch of last year's sectional that St. Elizabeth won 6-5 in Marshall.
St. Elizabeth came in at No. 3 in the final regular-season state rankings, while Northwest was ranked sixth.
With a victory tonight, St. Elizabeth would host the winner of the sectional between ninth-ranked Wellsville (12-4) and second-ranked Concordia (17-4) on Wednesday.
St. Elizabeth finished second in Class 1 last year.