For the Altus High School Bulldogs its time to forget about the regular season and turn their attention toward the regional tournament.

Coach James Rubi's Bulldogs, 22-9, had a good regular season, but the records are even now.

“It doesn't matter now, we're all 0-0,” Rubi said.

The Bulldogs have an opportunity to do something that an Altus High baseball team hasn't done since the 1970s. Win the regional and the Bulldogs will make back to back appearances in the state tournament. That hasn't been done since the Bulldogs went state tourney in four straight years from1975-78.

To do that, Altus must get through a tournament that has sixth ranked Chickasha, Lawton MacArthur and Oklahoma City Northeast.

It gets under way Wednesday at Chickasha. The Bulldogs, seeded second, will play Lawton MacArthur, a team they have seen three previous times in the regular season, at 2:30 p.m. In the other first round matchup, top seeded Chickasha will play Northeast at Noon. The two losers will play an elimination game at 5 p.m.

A winners bracket game is slated for noon Thursday with the loser of that game playing 2:20 p.m.

The finals are scheduled for Noon Friday.

The Bulldogs have fared well against the opponents they will face in the regional. They have defeated MacArthur three times and Chickasha in their only meeting with the Fightin' Chicks.

“It doesn't matter we still have to go make plays. “If we make plays we'll be okay,” Rubi said.

The name of the game for the Bulldogs has been pitching and defense.

Ben Hayes and Matt Meier lead the mound corps. Meier is 9-1 on the season with 1.21 ERA while Hayes is 5-2 with 1.30 ERA.

Both hurlers have been stingy in giving up base hits. Opponents are hitting .131 against Meier and .190 against Hayes.

Meier is expected to start on the mound against MacArthur. If everything goes according to plan with Altus and Chickasha winning their first round games, Hayes will get the start against the Fightin' Chicks.

When a third pitcher is needed for the tournament, Rubi is expected to go to Caleb Ellison who sports a 4-1 record with a 2.54 ERA.

Offensively the Bulldogs are hitting .335 as a team.

Seven players are hitting over the .300 mark including Meier (.469), Hayes (.423), Chris Holt (.394), Kirk Luebking (.380), Michael Jackson (.371), Blake Stepanovich (.316) and Bucky Buxton (.302).

Hayes leads the team in home runs (7) and runs batted in (39).