VALDOSTA — Valdosta High’s baseball team opens the Class AAAAA playoffs as a heavy favorite in its first-round matchup. Valdosta is 21-5, and ranked fifth in the state. Its opponent, Bradwell Institute, has just eight wins all year.

Then again, baseball is a funny game. Two years ago, the Wildcats were a No. 4 seed when they knocked off a region champion, Redan, in the first round. They don’t want the roles to be reversed this time.

“Their record isn’t very good. But if we don't show up ready to play, they could make it interesting,” Valdosta head coach Bart Shuman said. “They played (20-5) Camden close one game this year. We need to come ready to play, and get this done.”

The Wildcats and the Tigers open their best-of-three series today with a doubleheader at Bazemore Field. Game 1 will begin at 4 p.m. An if-necessary game is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday.

Valdosta will send its two aces to the mound today. Kyle Rowe (9-1, 2.86) will start game 1, while fellow right-hander Earl Daniels (9-0, 0.46 ERA) gets the start in game 2. Those two have combined for 18 of Valdosta’s 21 wins this season.

“I feel good about having those two guys on the mound,” Shuman said. “They've both had real good years.”

Valdosta is having its best season in over a decade. The Wildcats won 21 games in the regular season, and earned the Region 1-AAAAA championship, their first region title since 1996.

“It’s been great. We’ve had a lot of success,” Shuman said. “We’ve won 21 games, which is not easy in a region as tough as ours. We’ve got a good nucleus, and good leadership. We’ve gotten good pitching and good hitting. We’ve had a bunch of people do it this year. It hasn’t just been one or two players.”

Designated hitter Chad Prain leads the Wildcats in hitting with a .451 average. Second baseman Cameron Cain is hitting .435, Rowe is batting .375 and left fielder Thomas Lovett has a .355 average.

Teams that do the things Valdosta has done all year — getting good pitching, timely hitting and playing error-free defense — generally have the potential to go far in the playoffs.

“I’d like to think so,” Shuman said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen down the road. There are some good teams in this state, especially in Region 5, Region 6 and Region 8. Right now, we’re just focusing on this one opponent. We’ll worry about Bradwell first.”

In Bradwell’s region, 3-AAAAA, only one team, No. 4 Camden County, the region champion, had a winning record (20-5). Even second-place Jenkins went 11-14, though the Warriors were 10-2 in region play.

The Wildcats and Tigers only have one common opponent this year, Pierce County. Valdosta split its two games with Pierce, losing 7-4 and winning 9-8, while Bradwell lost 8-1 to the Bears.

Valdosta and Bradwell also met in the first round of the football state playoffs last fall, with Valdosta winning 42-0.