“Know your enemy,” wrote Sun Tzu in “The Art of War.” That will be easier for some teams than others in the high school baseball tournament.

This year’s tournament will pit a number of unfamiliar foes against each other in the early rounds. In Eastern A, Lewiston will face Brewer in the quarterfinals. The Blue Devils are in the KVAC South, the Witches in the North, and they didn’t cross paths in the regular season. In Western Class B, Lisbon, the lone Mountain Valley Conference representative, will host defending state champion, a product of the Western Maine Conference, in the quarterfinals. In Western C, Mt. Abram draws Traip in a MVC/WMC preliminary.

Barring a preseason meeting or an accidental scouting trip during the regular season, these teams will know little about each other when the first pitch is thrown. In a sport where pitching and hitting game plans and defensive positioning can make such a big difference, not being acquainted with the other team can leave coaches spending some sleepless nights.

“The challenge is the unfamiliarity,” Lewiston coach Todd Cifelli said. “You can try to get all of the the scouting reports you can from newspaper clippings, but there’s only so much you can learn from that.”

There are other sources of information, of course. Many coaches will spend the next few days calling in favors from friends in the other conferences.

“Most of the time, we have some people we can get some information from,” Lisbon coach Randy Ridley said. “Sometimes, they’re very guarded, though. Sometimes coaches don’t want to give information on other teams in the conference.”

“But we’re not looking for a full-blown scouting report,” he added. “What we’re looking for is something that gives us a basis for what we need to get ready for the team we’re facing.”

In previous years, many teams with first-round byes could count on the prelims to see their quarterfinal opponent in person. But with the new Maine Principals’ Association 50 percent rule, the number of prelims has been cut drastically. Eastern A has no prelim games. Western B has one. Western C, just two. Last year, those three regions had 11 combined.

Another side effect of the lack of prelims is that lower-seeded teams will have their No. 1 starters available in the quarterfinals. That means the higher seeded teams are going to have to give more serious thought to throwing their top starters to match them.

“The days of the top three teams saving their No. 1’s (for the semifinals) are dwindling,” Cifelli said.

Another concern for coaches is keeping their teams sharp during the long layoff. Many teams have scheduled scrimmages to break up the monotony. Lewiston will have a 10-day break between its last regular-season game and the playoffs. The Blue Devils have a scrimmage with Westbrook tentatively scheduled for next week at the renovated Ballpark in Old Orchard Beach.

Oxford Hills, which is scheduled to face Brunswick in an Eastern A quarterfinal next Thursday, has decided to fore-go any scrimmages.

“We had some opportunities, but in the past, it hasn’t been real productive for us. It’s not the same intensity,” Vikings coach Shane Slicer said. “My biggest issue is I’ve got nine seniors and they’ve started doing their senior stuff. They just started marching (Friday). Sunday they have baccalaureate. Tuesday they have a class trip. Wednesday they have a class night. Monday we have a Legion tryout. There really wasn’t a lot of time for those kids (to scrimmage) without tiring them out.”

“We’re going to do some intrasquad stuff and bring in a few alumni and whatnot to throw against us and stay fresh that way,” he added. “We just  had an old fashioned practice (Friday), back to the grind, learning stuff you learn in week one. It’s been awhile since we’ve gone over everything.”

Whether teams want to scrimmage or not, their options are probably limited.

“The MPA’s decision to limit the number of play dates is a factor,” Cifelli said. “Most teams have one date left. It will be interesting to see how coaches will keep their pitching lined up and what they do to have their hitters see live pitching. You can do intrasquad scrimmages and try to simulate game conditions in practice, but there’s nothing that replaces games.”

Mound Hounds

One of Lisbon’s concerns heading into the season was pitching, but the Greyhounds have ridden strong performances from Frank Angelico, Alex Hall and Marcus Bubar to a 13-3 record. The senior trio has led a staff that is giving up just 2.8 runs per game.

“I’ve got three guys who I know when I put them on the mound, they’re going to give me quality innings every time out,” Ridley said.

Lewiston sophomore left-hander Corbin Hyde has been even stingier. Hyde set a new Lewiston ERA record during the regular season with a microscopic 0.29 mark (one earned run in 24 1/3 innings) shattering the old mark of 0.82 set by Mike Fennessy in 1990. Hyde is 4-0 with a save in six appearances, including three starts.

Awards night

Conferences handed out their hardware this week. Matt Verrier of Oxford Hills, who was named Maine’s Gatorade Player of the Year earlier in the week, picked up KVAC South Player of the Year honors. Brewer’s Eric White was the KVAC North POY. Dirigo’s Ryan Lafleur was named Player of  the Year for the MVC North. Ryan Leach of Hall-Dale was the MVC South Player of the Year.