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With the regular season wrapped up, the Monroe High School baseball team will turn its attention to the postseason tournament.

The Hornets will enter the Division II sectional tournament with a record of 17-8 overall and 9-3 in the Southwestern Buckeye League Buckeye division after splitting a doubleheader Tuesday against Valley View. The day started with the completion of a suspended game from earlier in the season. The game resumed in the sixth inning with the score tied at 8-8 and remained tied until Monroe broke through with four runs in the top of the eighth inning for a 12-8 win. J.C Kellis had a two run double and Jason Osterman and Danny Leahy each drove in a run for Monroe. The Spartans evened the score in the regularly scheduled game, scoring 11 runs over the final three innings for a 13-6 win.

"We were trying to give everyone a chance to play in the last couple of innings, it really wasn't a matter of winning today. We we're trying to get people positioned and focused on Thursday," Monroe baseball coach Bob Hunt said.

The game Hunt wanted to get his players focused on is today's Division II sectional semifinal against SWBL rival Oakwood. The fourth-seeded Hornets will host the fifth seeded Lumberjacks at 5 p.m. at the old Lemon-Monroe High School baseball field.

"We're playing a great team. Oakwood is a solid team. If they're not the best team we're going to play, they're one of the five best teams we're going to see the entire season. They've got two kids that are studs," Hunt said. "If we can pitch well and play defense we're going to have chances. Offensively we're going to be OK, I think we can hit the ball. I think we'll hit the ball against anybody we play the entire year."

Senior Jake Hofer will be on the mound for Monroe. In seven starts this season, Hofer has compiled a 5-0 record with a 3.67 earned run average. He has pitched a team leading 34 innings and has recorded 19 walks and 31 strikeouts.

"He been our workhorse the entire year. He's going to get the ball first choice," Hunt said. "He's been our go-to guy the entire year and we wouldn't expect anyone else to be on the mound but him."

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