The rivalry between Southeast of Saline and Sacred Heart, will reach new heights Wednesday in the  3A Regional semifinal at Dean Evans.

The winner will move on to the Regional Championship and the chance to go to the 3A State Tournament in Manhattan and the loser will hang up their bat bags for the year.

“It should be a good game, we expect nothing less,” Sacred Heart coach Brad Dix said.

The Knights (15-6) got the better of the Trojans (14-5) in a April 9 sweep, but both games coming down to the last out.  In game one Sacred Heart used a two run bottom of the seventh to win 3-2 and in game two it seemed as if the Trojans would earn the split, but the Knights rallied after trailing 5-1 took pick up the one run victory 8-7.

“All we needed to do was eliminate a few errors and we win both those games,” Southeast senior Michael Swanson said. “I think we’re better prepared this time around.”

Sacred Heart comes into the contest by beating Hillsboro 4-1, in which at one point junior pitcher Dalton Dooley retired 11 batters in a row, Dooley only gave up four hits through a complete games work and improved to 5-0 on the season.

Southeast advanced to the next around in a chippy 2-0 win over Lyons Lions, in which sophomore pitchers Cole Sauber and Connor Boyer combined for the shutout.  The Trojans had short comings at the plate only picking up four hits.

First pitch for the Saline County rivals is set for 4 p.m. at Deans Evan Stadium Wednesday.  The winner will play that same day at 6 p.m. in the Regional Finals against the winner of the Marion and Moundridge match-up  in the other semifinal.