The Wakeland High School baseball team takes on Hallsville this week in a best-of-3 series that will send one team to the UIL state tournament.

Wakeland and Hallsville will play Game 1 of the series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Mike Carter Field in Tyler. Game 2 will be at 8 p.m. Friday at Dallas Baptist University and Game 3, if necessary, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Dallas Baptist University.

Wakeland (32-10) swept Corsicana in a best-of-3 regional quarterfinal and has now won eight of its nine playoff games. Pitching and defense has led the way for the Wolverines, who have not allowed more than two runs in any playoff game.

Wakeland, which will be playing the school that knocked it out of the playoffs in 2018, is making its deepest playoff run since 2017. In that year, the Wolverines were a state qualifier and lost a 3-2 heartbreaker in the semifinals to eventual 5A champ Port Neches-Groves. Wakeland also was a state semifinalist in 2010.

The 5A state tournament will be next week in Round Rock, with the semifinals on Thursday, June 10 and the championship game on Saturday, June 12.

Go Wolverines!