Portage County postseason baseball preview

The baseball postseason begins Monday.

Here are five things to keep an eye on:

1. Southeast, Garfield square off in first round

Portage County fans will surely want to pay attention to the Division III Struthers District, where five of the county's 12 teams will play this postseason.

The local fun starts early with an old Portage County League and Portage Trail Conference battle between Southeast and Garfield. Expect a great battle on the mound between two legitimate aces in Pirates sophomore Nate Muncy and G-Men senior Kaidan Spade. Moreover, Southeast's lineup has roared to life toward the tail end of the season while Garfield has a loaded order as well, including Anthony Demma, who recently homered against Waterloo, and Vinnie Grandizio and Brody Swigonski, who had three hits apiece in a blowout of Bristol. Meanwhile, longtime PTC juggernaut Rootstown, whose streak of four straight league titles was snapped this year by Warren JFK, awaits the winner. While the Rovers have been hurt by an injury to ace Mason Bartholomy, they still have plenty of pitching depth, including Austin Biggin and Nathan Galambos, while seniors Blake Bower and Jaggar Kokochak have had fine seasons.

2. Field hopes to snap postseason slump

For years, the Falcons have been one of the top baseball programs in Portage County. That clearly hasn't changed as 18 wins in 2022, including impressive victories over Stow-Munroe Falls and Twinsburg, demonstrate. Still, Field has had some tough postseason luck. Their last postseason win came in 2017, followed by a nine-inning heartbreaker in the district semifinals, and last year ended in another brutally close loss, as the Falcons fell 4-3 to Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. With speed at the top of the order in Garit Greene and Braxton Baumberger, a loaded middle of the lineup, a bonafide ace in Griffin Ailes and a top-notch reliever in Xander Rorrer, there's no reason this can't be the year for Field to overcome recent postseason demons.

3. Aurora, Roosevelt should be competitive in Division I

The Division I tournament is brutal, but the 10th-seeded Rough Riders and 15th-seeded Greenmen are interesting teams to watch this week. Aurora is a deceptive 15 seed, led by two rockets for arms in Ben Schecterman (3-0, 2.02 ERA) and Colin Skolaris (1-3, 1.42) while Ryan Weber (.500) has been impossible to keep off the bases. The Greenmen are certainly capable of giving No. 6 Lake a run in the sectional finals should they get by No. 34 Warren G. Harding in the first round. Meanwhile, Roosevelt will likely draw a sectional title contest with Kenston, which has been led by the red-hot bats of Drew McKenna and Jake Vasil. Both were particularly good Saturday against Willoughby South with McKenna going 2-for-3 with two doubles and three runs scored and Vasil going 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs.

4. Mogadore earns high seed in the tournament

A .500 team a season ago, the Wildcats earned the county's best seed in the upcoming tournament, picking up a four seed and a first-round bye. How has Mogadore done it? With the convergence of a number of talented seniors like John Dasco and Garrett Penix, an ace and middle-of-the-order star junior in Mason Williams and an influx of stellar sophomores. Still, just because the Wildcats got a four seed doesn't mean the journey will be easy. Indeed, Mogadore could find itself going against Independence ace Ashton Lerz, last season's CVC Metro Division MVP, in the sectional finals.

5. Other things to watch

Streetsboro has had a strong close to the season and ace Evan Morris is back from injury but the 12th-seeded Rockets got a tough draw in a No. 18 NDCL team with significant postseason pedigree that has happened to play a loaded schedule. ... Windham finds itself in a rubber match with Northeastern Athletic Conference rival Bristol, with which it split a regular-season series. Jack Eye was a terror against the Panthers with a pair of 2-for-3 performances at the plate. ... Waterloo has an intriguing 15-16 matchup coming with Newton Falls with ace Noah Hughes likely to take the hill for the Vikings and a strong infield led by SS Luke Simons behind him.

Full list of upcoming games

May 16

Division II Louisville First Round

No. 22 Ravenna at No. 17 Canton South

No. 18 NDCL at No. 12 Streetsboro

Division III Cene Park First Round

No. 19 Crestwood at No. 12 LaBrae

No. 18 Southeast at No. 10 Garfield

No. 16 Newton Falls at No. 15 Waterloo

May 17

Division I Canton First Round

No. 34 Warren G. Harding at No. 15 Aurora

May 18

Division II Cene Park Sectional Final

No. 13 Lakeview/No. 10 Edgewood at No. 6 Field

Division III Cene Park Sectional Final

No. 18 Southeast/No. 10 Garfield at No. 7 Rootstown

May 19

Division I Euclid Sectional Final

No. 35 Kenmore-Garfield/No. 17 Kenston at No. 10 Roosevelt

Division IV Fairport Harbor Sectional Final

No. 10 Windham at No. 7 Bristol

Division IV Medina Sectional Final

No. 10 Lake Ridge Academy/No. 5 Independence at No. 4 Mogadore