Bremen High School baseball coach Mark Clark knows his team will be facing a strong offensive group when Walker comes to town for Friday’s 3:30 p.m. doubleheader that opens the teams’ best-of-three first round Class A state playoff series.

The Wolverines, Clark said, have hit 10 home runs in their last two games.

“They’re a real good hitting team,” Clark said.

Facing a stout lineup of opposing hitters, he said his pitchers will have to use a variety of pitches to get guys out.

“We’ve got to mix it up,” Clark said. “If we just throw fastballs, they’re going to hit the ball.”

Getting ahead in the count will also be a key for his hurlers, he said.

But Walker coach Michael Brady said against a team with strong pitchers like the Blue Devils (15-5), his guys simply have to focus on getting on base.

“Going against great pitching like we’re going to see, I’m going to worry about how many base hits we can get in a row,” Brady said.

The Wolverines’ head man also said he has heard of Bremen’s reputation as a team that feeds off the fundamentals of the game.

“They’re a pretty good, fundamentally-sound team from what I can tell,” Brady said.

And as much as Walker’s hitting prowess has Clark’s attention, the Blue Devil coach is pleased with where his team is as the playoffs begin.

“I like the way we’re playing right now,” Clark said. “We’re hitting pretty well, too. And we’re playing good defense.”

With the Wolverines coming out of Region 5, which features top-10 Class A teams Holy Innocents’ and Landmark Christian, and having faced Class AAAA and Class AAAAA schools, Clark knows Walker will come in battle-tested.

Bremen lost 5-3 to Landmark in a non-region contest this season, while the Wolverines lost 4-2 and won 15-3 in region games against Landmark.

With Jay Wade, Matt Parker, Curt Barrett, Cal Hardie and Brent Copeland as his pitchers, Clark feels like he has a deep enough rotation to have success in the postseason. He said Wade, Parker and Barrett’s ability to pitch complete games, in particular, is a major asset.

After digging out of early holes recently against Bowdon and Gordon Lee to earn victories, the Blue Devils also have shown the grit necessary to come back for wins.

“They feel confident that we can come back and score some runs,” Clark said.

It all adds up to Bremen playing some of its best baseball of the year, with nine victories in its last 10 outings, at the most important time of the season.

“I think we’re playing pretty good right now when you need to,” Clark said.

Brady, meanwhile, is hoping his third-seeded Walker team can pull off a mild upset in the first round against the second-seeded Blue Devils.

“You never know what can happen in a three-game series,” Brady said.