PITTFIELD, Mass. - Baseball teams across the state remaining in the MIAA tournament are preparing for their Elite Eight games this weekend.

After a big win in the Sweet Sixteen, Taconic High is getting ready to host the Ashland Clockers.

Taconic defeated Stoneham 12-0 on Thursday, following a 5-1 victory against Nipmuc on Monday.

Their offense on Thursday started with a first-inning grand slam from Nick Guachione. Taconic's first four hitters, Matt Lee, Christian Salzarulo, Evan Blake and Guachione, scored 10 of the Thunder’s 12 runs. Starting pitcher Lee struck in 10 in 5 innings pitched.

The Taconic Thunder entered the playoffs as the number one seed for Division III.

Senior pitcher and centerfielder Lee said having the home field advantage through the playoffs is a great feeling.

"We try to protect our field," Matt Lee said. "We feel like we shouldn't lose on this field ever. You know, we practice on this field every day and we know all the hops, we got the advantage, and, you know, we feel as though no team can really beat us on this field."

"We've preached we take one game at a time, one inning at a time, and it's worked out pretty well for us," Kevin Stannard said. "Once again, our pitching and our defense has been solid. It was nice to get some hitting yesterday and hopefully we can carry that into Sunday against Ashland."

Coach Kevin Stannard also spoke about the team's seniors setting the tone for the group.

"All five of them been fantastic. Their leadership has been outstanding, especially with the mixture of young kids that we have on the team this year," Stannard said. "We'll take one game at a time in Sunday's up first and hopefully we can continue on the march towards another state championship."

"We're trying to get that same energy back we had in 21, you know, it was all upbeat," Lee said. "We had guys all up even on the bench, guys were up and we're trying to kind of replicate that and just have that same energy that we had a couple of years ago. We feel as confident as we've been this whole year. We're starting to hit now. We've got everyone going. Our pitching obviously, and our defense has been almost pristine. So, going into, you know, the Elite Eight, we feel very confident ourselves."

Taconic will host Ashland High on Sunday at 2 p.m.