MHSAA 6A Playoff Preview: Can anyone stop top-ranked Northwest Rankin?

First-round matchups, favorites and dark horses for the MHSAA Class 6A Playoffs

Now that the field is set, it’s time to take a look at the MHSAA Class 6A Playoffs. Here’s some teams and players to watch, a complete list of the first-round matchups.

MHSAA 6A First Round

(All series begin Friday)

Clinton (14-9) vs. Center Hill (10-14)

Lewisburg (23-3) vs. Germantown (15-9)

Grenada (11-8) vs. Southaven (11-11)

South Panola (13-10) vs. Starkville (8-14)

Biloxi (12-14) vs. Warren Central (6-12)

Pearl (14-9) vs. Hancock (11-16)

Oak Grove (16-8) vs. St. Martin (16-12)

Ocean Springs (8-17) vs. Petal (15-11)

First Round Byes

Oxford (18-7)

Hernando (19-6)

Desoto Central (15-9)

Madison Central (18-6)

Brandon (20-6)

D’Iberville (10-15)

Northwest Rankin (23-2)

Gulfport (19-7)

MHSAA 6A Baseball Tournament Brackets

The front-runner

Northwest Rankin

There’s a handful of teams that could be in this category, but any conversation about the a favorite going into the 6A Playoffs has to start with the Cougars. Coach K.K. Aldridge has No. 1 Northwest Rankin back in the title hunt thanks to a potent lineup and a pitching staff that has a ridiculous 1.36 team ERA.

The three-man pitching rotation of Nick Monistere (7-1, 1.52 ERA), Connor Brooks (5-1, 1.69 ERA) and Evan Rogers (4-0, 1.26 ERA) has been devastating.

The Cougars (23-2) are no slouch at the plate, either, with six everyday players hitting .300 or better. As a team, they have 21 homers in 25 games, with catcher Brady Thomas leading in both home runs (seven) and RBIs (32).

Best opening-round matchup

Lewisburg (23-3) vs. Germantown (15-9)

This series is intriguing mostly because of the pedigree of these two budding programs, but its also one of two first-round series that features two teams with a winning record.

Simply put, Lewisburg is the best team in 6A that has to play this weekend. Coach Rusty Cagle’s squad is 20-2 since the start of March, but those two came against Desoto Central, which took two of three from the Patriots last weekend to steal the Region 2 crown.

They’ll face a Germantown team that has played the tougher schedule and struggled against some of the best teams in the state. But the Mavericks have the lineup and starting pitching to give them a puncher’s chance in any series. We’ll see if playing out the stretch for soon-to-retire coach Brian Hardy gives the Mavs a little extra incentive.

Collision course

If Oak Grove can get by St. Martin this weekend (and that’s still an “if”), it would set up a rematch from last year’s South State Championship against Northwest Rankin. The Warriors got swept in that series last year, but went into it after losing their top two pitchers to injuries.

Coach Chris McCardle has the traditionally strong program back in the title hunt, but they’ll need to catch fire at the right time to get through these first two series.