It is hard to believe we are just over a week away from the start of the MHSAA baseball and softball state tournament.

Next Tuesday the tournament will kick off with the pre-district round and then next Saturday the districts will be held at various sites throughout southwest Michigan.

Dowagiac is hosting perhaps the most competitive baseball district in the area.

The two best teams, at least on paper, will square off at Rotary Park in Dowagiac in the first semifinal on June 2 as Edwardsburg takes on Lakeshore.

The Eddies and Lancers split a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday with both teams winning by a single run.

Niles and Dowagiac drew the pre-district contest May 29. That game will also be played at Rotary Park. Start time has been set for 5 p.m.

The Vikings are at .500 this season, while the Chieftains are struggling under first-year head coach Keith Schreiber.

The winner of the Niles-Dowagiac game will face Benton Harbor in the second semifinal June 2.

I find it troubling that the top two teams drew each other in the semifinals.

I have advocated for years having the state seed the state tournament so that this does not happen.

I hear that it would be too tough to figure out the seeding.

That is garbage.

So, I will seed the Division 2 baseball tournament at Dowagiac for you right now.

Edwardsburg is the top team and would play Benton Harbor in the first semifinal, while Lakeshore would get the winner of the Dowagiac-Niles game in the second semifinals.

Now that was not so tough was it?

I gave the Eddies the nod over the Lancers because they won the second game of the doubleheader last Saturday. As in most seeding formats, when the opponents have faced each other multiple times, the winner of the last meeting gets seeded higher.

Let us move over to the Division 2 softball tournament, which is even easier to seed.

The Lancers are the top seed with a 23-9 record.