Trying to stay within TSSAA region tournament guidelines, Region 3-4A has had to make a some of adjustments to the preferred layout to accommodate a pair of commencement services.
As the District 6-4A champion, Bradley Central will serve as the host site but must work around Saturday evening's graduation.
Likewise, District 5 winner Cleveland High has commencement Friday evening.
Rather than starting on Friday, as the TSSAA would prefer, the region tournament will feature a pair of midday games on Saturday, plus a trio of contests on Sunday, which is Mother's Day.
A similar accommodation had to be made last year as well, when the McKenzie Baseball Complex was the host site as well.
This year's action will begin Saturday morning at 11 a.m. with the host Bears taking on District 5 runner-up McMinn County, followed by the Blue Raiders battling District 6 runner-up Ooltewah, at 2 p.m.
This arrangement will leave time for the baseball facilities to be emptied before commencement at 7:30, in Bear Stadium.
On Sunday at 1 p.m. the play will continue with the Saturday winners squaring off in the region championship game, followed by the Saturday losers playing an elimination contest at 3:30.
The final game of the event will start at 6 p.m. Sunday and will feature the early Sunday game loser, taking on the 1 p.m. winner to the region runner-up spot and a place in the TSSAA best-of-3 Sectional play the following week.
In one of the state's oldest rivalries, Bradley (24-7), ranked 21st in the Maxpreps Class 4A list, and McMinn County (20-15) played a home-and-home series at the end of March with the Bears claiming very tough 3-2 and 3-1 victories.
Unbeaten in District 6 play this season, Bradley stared the season 0-5, but have won 24 of 26 games since, including a 16-game winning streak.
The Cherokees led the District 5 race until losing 2-of-3 to Walker Valley late i nthe campaign. McMinn repaid the Mustangs by taking the best-of-3 semifinal series in the tournament to advance to the region.
Making their first region appearance since 2009, Cleveland (22-11) will tangle with Ooltewah (9-20), which it defeated 4-1 and 7-3 during the regular season, in Saturday afternoon's opening round.
The top two teams this weekend will advance to the TSSAA Sectionals, beginning May 15-19 against the Region 4 representatives.
In Region 4 this weekend sixth-ranked Riverdale (35-8) is battling No. 22 Stewarts Creek (22-10), while 11th-ranked Siegel (28-12) will tangle with Wilson Central (24-10).
The TSSAA State Championships will be held May 21-24 during Spring Fling, in Murfreesboro.
