State A Amateur Baseball Tournament berths will be on the line this weekend when Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar hosts a regional tournament at Fossum Field.

The event features just three teams, Circus, Baltic and the Sioux Falls Brewers, with two of them advancing to the opening round of the state tournament next week in Brookings.

In the past, the region tourney has included Castlewood, but that squad has dropped down to Class B this season, and Brookings received an automatic bid since it is hosting the first part of the state tourney.

Circus manager Ryan Ellingson said this year’s Circus team, which includes 23 players, has a bit different strengths than previous squads.

“In years past it’s been defense and pitching for us. … Our hitting has kind of come around where we’ve had some good outbursts of swinging the sticks well,” Ellingson said. “I think for us to win, we’re definitely going to have to bring the bats.”

Circus owns two wins over Baltic already this season, and a 6-5 win over the Brewers as well.

So does that make Aberdeen the favorite this weekend?

“I think the Brewers are still the favorite,” Ellingson said.

Circus plays Baltic at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with the winner taking on the Brewers around 4:30 p.m., and the loser facing the Brewers at 7 p.m. If one team wins both games, there will not be any need for games on Sunday, with the 2-0 and 1-1 teams advancing. If each team goes 1-1 on Saturday, there will be two additional games on Sunday to determine which teams will head to the State tourney.

While Circus has nearly two dozen players, it has been a challenge getting them all at the diamond at the same time. This weekend, Aberdeen will be without starters Wolf’don Thorson and leading home-run hitter Corey Harrell because they coach youth baseball teams who will be in state tournaments.

“In the grand scheme of things we’re not that much of a different team than we have been in years past,” Ellingson said. “We’re probably a little lighter on pitching. … I probably haven’t put the same lineup out more than twice this year.”

That said, the local squad does have more depth than it has in the past, which helps to cover some of those holes.

“Everybody is probably almost even on at-bats other than our main staples,” Ellingson said. “It’s one of those where we’re probably deeper than we’ve been, but nobody has got the 100 at-bats or something like that, that’s been possible in the years past.”

While Circus is not ranked among the teams in the most recent Class A poll, the squad is battle tested having faced the likes of the Class A second-rated Brewers and Class B fourth-rated unbeaten Redfield Dairy Queen.

“Obviously, beating the Brewers and playing against DQ and some of those, we’ve seen a lot of good pitching,” Ellingson said. “We’re probably more prepared as hitters this year than we have been in years past. If we can get our pitching and defense to catch up, I think we definitely can surprise some people.”

Brookings will host the opening porition of the State A tourney before it eventually moves to Mitchell for the championship rounds in two weeks.

Ellingson said if all of the pieces come together, he likes his team’s chances.

“If we can get the pitching and the defense to catch up to the sticks,” Ellingson said, “I think we’ve got a pretty good chance of coming out on top here.”