A trio of No. 1 seeds will lead Southwest Louisiana high school baseball teams into the state playoffs.

Barbe, St. Louis Catholic and South Beauregard earned the top seed in their respective divisions, and with it, a first-round bye.

The Bucs (29-5) are No. 1 for the fourth time in five seasons and eighth since seeding by power ratings began in 2008.

Barbe is riding a 14-game win streak and its 28th district championship in program history. The Bucs pitching staff has been stellar down the stretch with a 1.26 earned run average, allowing 10 earned runs in 79 innings. With the first three rounds now best-of-three series in Divisions I-III, a deep pitching staff is a must for any team wanting to make a run to the state tournament in Sulphur, May 7-11.

The Bucs could get a nonselect Division I regional matchup against District 3-5A rival No. 17 Sulphur. The Tors (23-11) will travel to No. 16 East Ascension (18-14) for a best-of-three series in the first round.

St. Louis (20-10) is the No. 1 seed in select Division II for a second consecutive season after falling a game short of the championship game last season.

The Saints won their first eight games of the season before experiencing midseason struggles but finished strong, winning eight of their last 10.

In nonselect Division III, South Beauregard claimed its first No. 1 seed.

The Golden Knights (25-3) ran the tables in District 3-3A, winning the regular season and tournament championships, and won 15 of their last 16 regular-season games. South Beauregard has a strong trio of starters on the mound in Jace Duhon, Clayton Folks and Cole Eaves. They have a combined 20-2 record with 162 strikeouts in 126 2/3 innings.

Other area teams that earned first-round byes in the nonselect bracket include No. 3 Sam Houston (Division I), No. 7 Westlake and No. 8 Rosepine in Division III, No. 4 DeQuincy (Division IV) and No. 7 Lacassine (Division V).

Area Bi-district Pairings

Nonselect

Best-of-three Series

Division I

No. 1 Barbe, bye

No. 17 Sulphur at No. 16 East Ascension, 6 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday (if necessary).

No. 3 Sam Houston, bye

Division II

No. 17 Jennings at No. 16 Plaquemine, 6 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. Saturday; noon Saturday (if necessary).

No. 21 DeRidder at No. 12 Iowa, 5:30 p.m. Thursday; 4 p.m. Friday; noon Saturday (if necessary),

Division III

No. 1 South Beauregard, bye

No. 17 Kinder at No. 16 Marksville

No. 8 Rosepine, bye

No. 7 Westlake, bye

Single Elimination

Division IV

No. 24 Franklin at No. 9 Vinton, 4 p.m. Friday.

No. 20 Delcambre at No. 13 Merryville

No. 4 DeQuincy, bye

No. 19 Grand Lake at No. 14 East Beauregard, 5 p.m. Friday.

No. 23 Oberlin at No. 10 Centerville

No. 18 Pickering at No. 15 Kentwood, 4 p.m. Friday.

Division V

No. 24 Singer at No. 9 Anacoco

No. 20 Calvin at No. 13 Bell City

No. 22 Reeves at No. 11 Hornbeck, 5:30 p.m. Friday.

No. 7 Lacassine, bye

No. 18 Hackberry at No. 15 Choudrant

Select

Best-of-three Series

Division II

No. 1St. Louis Catholic, bye