SULPHUR — Familiar foes Barbe and West Monroe will meet again in the nonselect Division I state baseball championship game at 5 p.m. today at McMurry Park.

The second-seeded Bucs (38-1) beat the No. 1 Rebels (34-4) 5-0 in the 2021 Class 5A championship game. The schools met in the semifinals ’13 and ’19, with the Rebels winning the first and Barbe the second.

The Rebels rebounded from the 2021 loss to win the state title last year.

“I think it is going to be a war,” Barbe head coach Glenn Cecchini said. “We’ve played in the semis, we played in the finals in 1999 when they beat us and 1993 when we won, then they beat us in 1995.

“You are talking about two great programs. Nobody knows who is going to win. I’ve known (West Monroe head coach Wade Simoneaux) for years. They have a lot of great players. We have a lot of respect for them and I’m sure they respect us too.”

The Rebels are led by junior infielder Hayden Federico, an Ole Miss commitment, and junior outfielder John Pearson, an LSU commitment.

West Monroe has shown a flair for the dramatic in Sulphur, rallying from a 6-0 deficit to beat St. Amant 9-6 in last year’s championship game, then scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Sam Houston 4-3 in the semifinal game Thursday night.

Barbe advanced with a 5-1 win over District 3-5A rival Sulphur.

The Bucs have allowed two runs in five playoff games. West Monroe is averaging 7.5 runs per game in its six playoff games. Both winning pitchers from Barbe’s quarterfinal series win over Neville, right-hander Grant Trahan and left-hander J.C. Vanek, are available to pitch today.

West Monroe’s road to Sulphur included a first-round by, regional series win over Fontainebleau and quarterfinals win over St. Amant.