Ada — Strange as it seems, Tupelo baseball coach Clay Weller is actually looking forward to another showdown with old rival — and consensus No. 1 — Roff this week at the Class B state tournament.

“We would obviously like to be on the other side of the bracket, but if we play Roff in the second round (at 5 p.m. Friday), that’s a good thing, because it means we won Thursday,” said Weller, whose fourth-ranked squad will face No. 5 Arnett at 5 p.m. Thursday at Dolese Park in Oklahoma City.

The Tupelo-Arnett contest figures to be among the most competitive of the four first-round games in Class B, and it is one of three involving area teams. Roff — favored to become the first Oklahoma school to complete a sweep of fall and spring baseball and basketball in the same school year — will open defense of its 2009 spring state championship against unranked Shidler at noon, and No. 8 Asher will take on No. 2 Red Oak — Roff’s opponent in the last five Class B title games at 2:30 p.m. Granite and Caney will wrap up the first day’s action at 7:30, with the survivor to face the Asher-Red Oak winner.

Six area baseball squads will also be trying to punch their tickets to next week’s state tournaments in Classes 2A through 5A with victories at regional tournaments that open today and Thursday.

The Ada Cougars, ranked 16th, will look to bounce back from a rough Class 5A Regional Tournament tune-up loss at Sulphur Monday afternoon as they will begin the playoffs at 4 this afternoon with a rematch with the Noble Bears in the regional tournament at Deer Creek-Edmond High School. The host Antlers (ranked No. 1) will meet Capitol Hill at 1:30 this afternoon in the first game of the day, with the  loser meeting the Ada-Noble loser at 6:30 tonight in the first elimination game of the tournament.

In 4A, Byng will will meet No. 4 Blanchard at 3:30 p.m. in the first round of a regional at Lone Grove that also includes the host squad (ranked No. 10) and Madill; seventh-ranked Coalgate will face Valliant at 1:30 p.m. to open the 3A regional on the Wildcats’ home field, with Kingston and Eufaula to meet in Game 2; and elsewhere in 3A, Sulphur will host No. 8 Plainview, No. 10 Jones and No. 18 Marlow, with the Bulldogs to meet Plainview in the first game of the day.

In 2A, No. 4 Latta will be favored in a four-team regional at Washington that includes the host Warriors (ranked No. 18), Carnegie and Cordell, and No. 6 Vanoss will be the top seed in a tough regional at Apache that also includes No. 9 Mangum, the host squad (ranked No. 15) and unranked Frederick. Latta and Vanoss will open regional play against Cordell and Frederick, respectively, with both games scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Like Roff, Tupelo will be making its 13th straight state tournament appearance Thursday, and Weller said the way his club advanced out of its regional — winning two elimination games Friday and another on Saturday after a 5-4 second-round loss to Glencoe — could pay dividends this week.

“Obviously hindsight is 20-20 and it’s easy to say that’s what we needed, but I felt like it helped us,” said Weller, whose squad will carry a 22-6 record into Thursday’s contest. “Losing and not playing real well Thursday kind of gave us a little bit of a spark and made us understand our name isn’t etched on the bracket just because our name is Tupelo.

“Our backs were against the wall, but we got to play some extra games and see some live pitching a couple of extra times,” he added.

“I think that might have gotten us hungry, and it might pay off this week. We had to hustle and bring our hard hat to play. I think we kind of got back to back to Tupelo baseball. I hope we continue on with that Thursday and on into the weekend.”

Perhaps the most encouraging sign for the Tigers in their last three games at the regional was the improvement in an offense that had struggled all season. Tupelo manhandled Glencoe, 13-0, in Saturday’s if-necessary championship game, and Weller said his club will need to maintain that momentum this week.

“We went into the regional talking about taking some pressure off our pitching staff, and the way to do that is to score runs,” he said. “I thought Friday and Saturday we really had some good at-bats. When (the opposition) helped us out (with errors), on a couple of ground balls, we made them pay.”

Jake Sanders will get the start Thursday against an Arnett squad that, like Tupelo, is accustomed to playing on the final week of the season.

“He’s coming off a really good start Friday against Glencoe (in the first regional championship game),” Weller said of Sanders. “He wants the baseball right now, and he probably deserves that chance.

“Arnett is ranked right there with us, and like most of the teams up there, they’re a traditional power,” he added.

“They’re senior-laden and they’re like us — they’re scrappy and they will play hard. It will definitely be a challenge to make it through the first round, but we’re looking forward to it.”