Throw the records out the window. That was the message Washington’s first-year coach Matt Burnett delivered to his team as he prepared the Pam Pack for the 64-team NCHSAA 3-A playoff tournament which is scheduled to begin tonight.

Washington wrapped up its regular season with a 4-3 victory over Northside on Tuesday to enter the postseason with 12-12 record. That mark was good enough to earn the Pam Pack, who is making its first playoff appearance in three years, a No. 5 seed as it heads off to face No. 3 Hunt (16-7, Big East) tonight at 7 p.m. As his team prepares to enter May Madness Burnett doesn’t want it to dwell on records or seeding, he just wants his players to focus on the task at hand.

“There are 64 teams in the 3-A bracket and once you get in there everything starts over,” Burnett said. “I told the kids last night our regular season record means absolutely nothing right now, it’s all about seeing if we can put together a good streak.”

Before coaching the Pack, Burnett coached at Southern Lee where he led the team to playoff appearances in each of his four years at the school, with his longest run coming in 2008 where his team made it to the third round of the NCHSAA 3-A playoffs.

Burnett said the first round of the postseason is the trickiest, but felt if his team can survive Thursday’s contest against Hunt the fourth-ranked team in the state according to the latest Impact Baseball.com poll, then the sky is the limit.

“In all my years of being in the playoffs the first round is always the most difficult to get out of,” Burnett said. “But, I think if we can get out of the first round we can play baseball for a while.”

Fueling Burnett’s optimism is the fact that he can throw out senior ace Hatteras Brooks with an ever-improving defense behind him.

“I think that with Hatteras on the mound we can compete with anybody. Hatteras has really stepped up for us this year and pitched well in big spots,” Burnett said. “I think that our baseball team can really get hot. We have been knocking on the door all year long. With this being a single elimination tournament, if you run a pitcher out there that can really wheel-and-deal you can knock some teams out. I feel like our team can really make a run.”

In order to do that, Burnett felt his team must get off to a quick start.

“You have to go out and really jump on teams early,” Burnett said. “As quick as the playoffs get here, they can be over. You can’t take a whole lot for granted. You have to go out there and lay it all on the line and understand it’s all about surviving and advancing to the next round.”

Aside from a fast start, Washington must continue to play solid defense and not allow Hunt to extend innings.

“We have to play good defense, we can’t give a team like that extra outs,” Burnett said. “Teams that are as strong offensively as Hunt is, we will have a tough enough time getting them out so we have to make sure that we make plays defensively.”

On offense, Burnett said his team must create and sustain momentum.

“We have to be able to move the lineup along,” Burnett said. “We have to be able to go in there and pass it off to the next (batter) so to speak throughout the lineup. What we really preach is that it’s almost like a train, and we want to keep the train moving. That means hitting behind runners and sacrificing and having productive at-bats.”

If players like Jake Duke, Will Swain and Austin Mitchell can keep the offense moving, Burnett is hoping that Brooks will slow down Hunt down. Burnett felt like Brooks, who relies on his off-speed pitches to get outs, will be a tough challenge for a Hunt team that plays in a conference loaded with power pitchers.

“Guys who command two or three pitches always give good hitting teams trouble,” Burnett said. “Hatteras can reach back and throw his fastball if he needs to, but he works his off-speed stuff so well around the plate that you can get teams that take big swings to pop up or hit ground balls to the right side of the infield. I think (the change in pace) will absolutely play a factor in what we try to do with Hatteras out there and will play a factor, especially for Hunt who is coming from a league with a lot of hard throwers.”

If the Pam Pack does succeed in taking down Hunt, it will advance to the second round of the tournament where it will face the winner of the Eastern Wayne (No. 2 Eastern Carolina)-South Brunswick (No. 2 WACCAMAW) matchup.

FOUR RIVERS PLAYOFF ROUNDUP

The NCHSAA 1-A playoffs is scheduled to begin on Friday and includes four area teams. The Plymouth Vikings, who are ranked fifth in the state amongst 1-A teams according to the Impact Baseball.com poll, won the Four Rivers Conference regular season crown and will host wild card entry Southside.

Riverside, who placed right behind the Vikings in the Four Rivers Conference and is ranked sixth in the state, will host No. 4 Northampton-West. Northside, the No. 4 seed from the Four Rivers Conference will play at Gates County, the No. 1 seed from the Tar Roanoke Conference.

NCHSAA 1-A POSTSEASON SCHEDULE

Wild Card Southside (9-12, Four Rivers) at No. 1 Plymouth (19-4, Four Rivers)

No. 4 Northside (8-15, Four Rivers) at No. 1 Gates County (13-8, Tar Roanoke)

No. 4 Northampton-West (6-6, Tar Roanoke) at No. 2 Riverside (19-4, Four Rivers)