Staff photo / Dan Hiner. McDonald’s Quinn Schmidt hits a three-run single to left field during the third inning of a game against Lowellville on May 4 at Bob Cene Park.

The high school baseball regular season winds down this week and local teams are preparing for the opportunity to make a run in the playoffs.

The OHSAA unveiled this year’s postseason brackets earlier this week, and several local teams earned high seeds after strong spring campaigns. In Division IV, Cardinal Mooney earned a No. 1 seed, while Lakeview earned a No. 2 seed in Division V. In Division VII, No. 1 seed McDonald leads the way, with Western Reserve getting a No. 2 seed and Warren JFK getting a No. 3 seed.

There are no local teams in Division I this year. But in Division II, No. 30 Warren G. Harding, No. 19 Boardman and No. 18 Austintown Fitch will all be going on the road for their first sectional matchup. The Raiders will visit No. 12 Wadsworth, the Spartans are taking on No. 14 Mayfield and the Falcons are travelling to No. 7 Hudson.

In Division III, No. 42 seed Youngstown East and No. 48 seed Chaney have tough road matchups in their final season before consolidation. The Golden Bears are visiting No. 6 CVCA, while the Cowboys are heading to face No. 4 seed Wooster. In their first sectional contests, No. 11 seed Canfield will have a home game against No. 41 Ashtabula Lakeside, and No. 15 seed Howland will host No. 38 Garfield Heights.

Division IV features one of the top teams in the state in No. 1 seed Cardinal Mooney. The Cardinals chose a first-round bye and await the winner of No. 30 Niles and No. 32 Conneaut. No. 21 Struthers will host No. 27 Ashtabula Edgewood and 2024 state champion and No. 19 seed West Branch will host No. 24 Pepper Pike Orange. Rounding out the brackets are No. 16 Hubbard visiting No. 11 Jefferson, No. 15 Ursuline traveling to No. 12 Woodridge and No. 33 Salem heading to face No. 9 Marlington.

Plenty of compelling sectional matchups make up Division V. No. 23 Fairview will visit No. 22 Garfield, No. 18 Pymatuning Valley visits No. 14 Champion and No. 24 Wellington travels to No. 12 South Range. Meanwhile, No. 10 Crestwood hosts No. 17 Beachwood, No. 19 Girard hosts No. 20 Crestwood and No. 28 Liberty visits No. 3 Wooster Triway. High seeds No. 2 Lakeview and No. 5 Poland have byes, as Lakeview awaits the winner of Garfield and Fairfiew, while Poland will face the South Range and Wellington winner.

In Division VI, No. 27 Loudonville will visit No. 6 LaBrae, while No. 26 Oberlin will travel to face No. 13 Springfield. No. 30 seed Campbell has a tough matchup at No. 1 seed Lake Center Christian. Then No. 22 East Palestine hosts No. 24 Mogadore, No. 17 Grand Valley hosts No. 25 Brookfield and No. 20 Newton Falls visits no. 15 Columbia Station Columbia. Rounding out the opening round matchups, No. 9 Mineral Ridge hosts No. 11 Ashtabula St. John, No. 23 Jackson-Milton visits No. 16 East Canton and No. 17 Columbiana hosts No. 19 Rootstown.

Rounding out the brackets in Division VII, No. 9 seed Heartland Christian opens play against No. 19 Southern. Then, in the same district, No. 4 Maplewood hosts No. 16 Middlefield Cardinal, No. 2 Western Reseve opens against No. 20 Waterloo, No. 5 Mathews hosts No. 14 Windham and No. 15 Lowellville visits No. 7 Andrews Osborne. In other districts, No. 3 Warren JFK hosts No. 22 Lordstown, No. 8 Badger hosts No. 13 Bristol and No. 18 Leetonia visits No. 17 Chalker. Rounding out the brackets, No. 1 seed McDonald opted for an opening-round bye and will play the winner of the Leetonia/Chalker game in its first sectional contest.