The high school baseball regular season has come to an end.

Postseason begins this week with district tournament play.

Two area teams in particular, Gainesville High and Oak Hall, could be facing a must-win situation in order to punch their ticket to next week’s regional tournaments.

While the goal is the same for both, to win a district title and earn an automatic bid, the two teams are completely different.

GHS, which is having its best season since winning 14 games seven years ago, is a senior laden team.

The Hurricanes are 13-9 this year and seeking their first winning season since finishing 19-7 during the 2016-17 school year.

“I credit the wins to a heavy senior presence, eight seniors, many of whom have been playing on varsity since freshman year, which speaks to a lot of in-game experience collectively,” said GHS coach Adrian Ramos. “We’re also deeper in pitching which has allowed us to schedule more games than in previous years. Because we’re playing three games per week, I think it’s kept us locked in and game ready, and with a more balanced schedule overall, these factors combined have led to more success.”

The ‘Canes are the No. 2 seed in Class 5A-District 5, but they are 10th in 5A-Region 2, with the top eight teams getting in.

At 7 p.m. on Wednesday they will host No. 3 seed Belleview (13-5), which lost at home to GHS, 6-4, on Feb. 20. GHS scored five runs in the top of the first and held off a late surge as the Rattlers scored three runs in their final at-bat.

“It was close, and Belleview took advantage of our offensive production slowing down after that first inning,” Ramos said. “It just tells you to keep the foot on the gas and don’t let up because they can put up runs too.”

Seabreeze (Daytona Beach), which is the top seed in the district, is currently No. 8 in the region. The Sandcrabs (9-14) have a losing record, but they have a higher strength of schedule (7.64) compared to GHS (-0.94) and Belleview (-4.15).

It would take a win on Wednesday, followed by a win on Friday, likely on the road, to make the FHSAA regional quarterfinals (Friday, April 24).

Seabreeze will host either No. 4 seed Matanzas (Palm Coast) (2-14) or No. 5 seed Mainland (Daytona Beach) (4-14) in the other district semifinal on Wednesday.

Sometimes you can roll the dice and hold your ace pitcher for the championship game, but the Hurricanes don’t have that luxury.

“Unfortunately, our ace (Cade Dixon) suffered a broken jaw in our second game against Oak Hall (March 25), so that likely isn’t even an option for us which means we’ll have to do what we can to compete,” Ramos said. “Our hope is we get Dixon back in some capacity since it is his senior year, and our boys have been doing everything they can to prolong the season, hopefully allowing Cade on the mound at least one more time. Until then, we have some options for Wednesday, but it will be a collective effort.”

Dixon, who had a brutal collision at first base that broke his jaw in three places has been wired shut for the past couple of weeks, was 3-1 this season on the mound with a team-best 2.82 earned run average (ERA), and he was also batting .320 and led the team with a .560 slugging percentage.

Sophomore Ty Quinn leads GHS with a .395 average, 30 hits, seven doubles, and 20 stolen bases, followed by junior Jacob Ostreicher (.382), who is second in runs batted in (20 RBI) and on base percentage (.533 OBP), and third with 21 hits.

Senior Chris Eckhardt (.362) leads the Hurricanes with 23 runs, and he is second with 25 hits and six doubles, while senior Broc Tucker (.350) is third with a .509 OBP and ERA (5.12). Junior Esteban Barranco (.304) leads GHS with a .610 OBP, and he is third with 16 runs scored.

“We like our chances, and know we can compete in big games,” Ramos said. “I’d say the boys are hungry, and because this is a heavy senior group I know they’d like to put a bow on the entire body of work over these past four years.”

While GHS has a veteran team, Oak Hall is filled with inexperience.

“Well, we’ve had seven positions that had players that were new to those positions at the varsity level, so we were kind of going through some growing pains of learning the new or different positions,” said OHS coach Kevin Maris.

The Eagles, who only have two seniors on the roster, is in a similar position to GHS.

The Eagles (6-10), who are the No. 2 seed in 1A-District 5, will host No. 3 seed Countryside Christian at 4 p.m. on Tuesday in the district semifinals. OHS defeated the Minutemen (9-7) on the road, 12-3, on March 13.

The top seed is Saint Francis Catholic Academy, which will host No. 4 seed Peniel Baptist Academy (Palatka) (3-14) at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday in the other district semifinal.

The host Wolves (19-4) are a lock to make the postseason as the No. 3 seed in 1A-Region 2, but the Eagles are sitting on the bubble as the No. 8 seed.

Knowing it’s a must-win against Countryside, Oak Hall may or may not throw their ace on Wednesday and could elect to hold him until Thursday’s championship game (5 p.m.) at the higher seed.

“This one and done time of the year is always a bit different on how we might attack the tournament play,” Maris said. “We have a few options to give us the best chance to progress through the district tournament and we are still weighing these decisions.”

Sophomore Fischer Green (0-1) leads the team with a 2.17 ERA but has only thrown 9.2 innings.

Junior BJ Johnson (2-3) leads the staff with 24.2 innings pitched and 26 strikeouts. He is second on the team with a 5.39 ERA.

Offensively, the Eagles are batting just .232 as a team. However, sophomore Brayden Farmer is having a good season with a team-best .423 average.

“Brayden is following an outstanding freshman year and has had a good year this year,” Maris said. “He’s a solid hitter that hits from both sides of the plate and has been playing 2B, 3B & P for us this year.”

Farmer also leads the team with a .559 OBP, two home runs, and a .731 SLG%. He is second with 11 hits and third with 12 runs scored and 9 RBI.

Junior Darius Medley (.333) and Green (.316) are the only other hitters batting above .300 but the Eagles are still averaging 6.5 runs per game this season.

Last year, Saint Francis Catholic Academy defeated Oak Hall in the district championship game to win their first district title in program history.

It’s all about getting hot at the right time and the Eagles have won three of their last four.

“There’s always a shot at tournament time,” Maris said. “All we have to do is get hot, and we’ve started turning the corner and started putting things together over the past week or two, so we look forward to the district tournament and to continuing this success into regional play.”

Other area teams who are likely to face must-win situations include Newberry (17-6), which is the No. 2 seed in 2A-District 4 but are ninth in 2A-Region 1, and Santa Fe (Alachua), which is the No. 2 seed in 3A-District 5 but also ninth in 3A-Region 2.

Newberry will play either No. 3 seed P.K. Yonge or No. 6 seed Crescent City in Wednesday’s district semifinals.

The district championship game is on Friday and could be at top seed Trinity Catholic (Ocala), which is third in a super competitive 2A-Region 1 which includes Jacksonville schools Trinity Christian Academy, Bishop Snyder, Bolles, Providence, and Episcopal among the top seven.

If Santa Fe can beat No. 3 seed Bradford (Starke) at home in Tuesday’s semifinals, the Raiders (8-17) would likely have to beat top seed Palatka (19-6) on the road on Thursday to earn a regional bid.

Santa Fe defeated Palatka, 2-1, on the road on March 31.

Other top seeds include Union County (Lake Butler) in Rural-District 6, Trenton (Rural-District 7), Suwannee (Live Oak) in 3A-District 3, Columbia (Lake City) in 5A-District 3, and Buchholz (6A-District 2).

The Bobcats will host either No. 4 seed Oakleaf (Orange Park) or No. 5 seed Forest (Ocala) in Wednesday’s 6A-2 semifinals. The game will be broadcast on Mainstreet Daily News (audio only) beginning at 6:45 p.m. with Marty Pallman (Play-by-play) and former Buchholz coach Ron Brooks calling the action.

The first pitch is at 7 p.m.

FHSAA Baseball District Tournaments

(teams in the Mainstreet coverage area in bold)

All games at 7 p.m. (unless noted) & subject to change

Class Rural-District 6 at Higher Seed

Monday, April 13

5 Taylor County (Perry) at 4 Hilliard

6 Hawthorne at 3 Branford

7 Fort White at 2 Lafayette (Mayo)

Tuesday, April 14

Hilliard/Taylor County winner at 1 Union County (Lake Butler)

Hawthorne/Branford winner vs. Fort White/Lafayette (Mayo) winner

Thursday, April 16

Championship (TBD)

Class Rural-District 7 at Higher Seed

Tuesday, April 14

5 Chiefland at 4 Bell

6 Bronson at 3 Dixie County (Cross City)

7 Wildwood at 2 Williston

Thursday, April 16

Bell/Chiefland winner at 1 Trenton

Bronson/Dixie County (Cross City) winner vs. Wildwood/Williston winner

Friday, April 17

Championship (TBD)

Class 1A-District 5 at Higher Seed

Tuesday, April 14

3 Countryside Christian at 2 Oak Hall School, 4 p.m.

4 Peniel Baptist Academy (Palatka) at 1 Saint Francis Catholic Academy, 4:45 p.m.

Thursday, April 16

Championship (TBD), 5 p.m.

Class 2A-District 4 at Higher Seed

Tuesday, April 14

5 Interlachen at 4 Keystone Heights

6 Crescent City at 3 P.K. Yonge

Wednesday, April 15

Interlachen/Keystone Heights winner at 1 Trinity Catholic (Ocala)

Crescent City/P.K. Yonge winner at 2 Newberry

Friday, April 17

Championship (TBD)

Class 3A-District 3 at Higher Seed

Tuesday, April 14

5 Stanton (Jacksonville) at 4 Wolfson (Jacksonville)

Wednesday, April 15

Stanton/Wolfson winner at 1 Suwannee (Live Oak)

3 Paxon (Jacksonville) at 2 Baldwin

Friday, April 17

Championship (TBD)

Class 3A-District 5 at Higher Seed

Tuesday, April 14

4 Eastside at 1 Palatka

3 Bradford (Starke) at 2 Santa Fe (Alachua)

Thursday, April 16

Championship (TBD)

Class 5A-District 3 at Fleming Island (Orange Park)

Tuesday, April 14

4 Ridgeview (Orange Park) at 1 Columbia (Lake City)

3 Middleburg at 2 Fleming Island (Orange Park)

Thursday, April 16

Championship (TBD)

Class 5A-District 5 at Higher Seed

Tuesday, April 14

5 Mainland (Daytona Beach) at 4 Matanzas (Palm Coast)

Wednesday, April 15

5 Mainland (Daytona Beach) at 4 Matanzas (Palm Coast) winner at 1 Seabreeze (Daytona Beach)

3 Belleview at 2 Gainesville

Friday, April 17

Championship (TBD)

Class 6A-District 2 at Higher Seed

Tuesday, April 14

5 Forest (Ocala) at 4 Oakleaf (Orange Park), 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 15

Forest/Oakleaf winner at 1 Buchholz

3 Tocoi Creek (St. Augustine) at 2 Bartram Trail (St. Johns)

Friday, April 17

Championship (TBD)