It’s become an annual tradition for Fairhope baseball coach Kyle Hunter, Enterprise coach Marty Lovrich and Hall of Fame coach Q.V. Lowe to spend a week in December fishing.

Lovrich and Hunter won’t be talking much about speckled trout this week.

Hunter’s Pirates will travel to Enterprise to meet Lovrich and the Wildcats in the Class 7A baseball semifinals beginning Thursday. The winner advances to the state finals next week in Oxford and Jacksonville.

“Once we start on Thursday, we are going to do everything in our power to move on to the next round and Marty will too,” Hunter said. “We will shake hands before the series starts and, regardless of the outcome, we will hug when its over. But between that, we will be competitors.”

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The relationship between Hunter and Lovrich dates back more than two decades. Lovrich, then the chief assistant for the legendary Lowe at AUM, recruited Hunter out of Gadsden State Community College to come to Montgomery. Hunter pitched for the Warhawks for two years and before transitioning into coaching with Lowe and Lovrich.

The group has been close ever since. Hunter said Lowe, now retired, plans to be at this week’s semifinal series in Enterprise.

“We usually don’t go more than a week without talking,” Lovrich said of his friendship with Hunter. “We played a game earlier this year, and we were talking before it. We obviously had gotten off to a pretty good start and Kyle’s bunch had a lot of players back from a good run last year. We said, ‘Wouldn’t it be neat if we got to play each other in the third round?’ And here we are.”

RELATED: Statewide semifinal schedule, pairings

Enterprise beat Fairhope 2-0 on March 22, part of a 32-1 season so far for the Wildcats. Brady Richardson pitched a no-hitter and struck out 10. Three Fairhope pitchers combined to allow just 2 hits and struck out 12. Cayden Boutwell’s 2-run homer in the sixth was the difference in the game.

Lovrich said his third-ranked team’s impressive record scares him a bit.

“I’ve always believed that you build your team on some adversity and how you handle losses,” he said. “There hasn’t been a lot of adversity for us really. In the playoffs, we’ve been fortunate to win the first game twice and keep rolling. I just have to keep reminding the guys that this is a best-of-3 series, and we have to keep focused and keep playing hard.”

Enterprise’s only loss came at the hands of Providence Christian 11-10 on March 17. The Wildcats swept Daphne in the first round of the playoffs and Auburn last week. They combined to win the first two games of each series by a 26-4 margin.

“In every phase of the game, they are good,” Hunter said. “They can pitch. They have seven guys in the lineup who can hurt you with one swing and all of them can hit. They have a couple of super athletic Division 1 signees on the infield. With Marty coaching, they are going to be fundamentally sound and disciplined, and they will protect the baseball. This group has taken on his philosophy and personality in how they play the game.”

Fairhope comes into the series at 31-10. The fifth-ranked Pirates ousted Dothan in three games in the first round and swept No. 4 Central-Phenix City last week.

“I felt like coming into this year, we had the ability and the makeup to make a run like this,” Hunter said. “The thing I questioned during the season was it seemed like we always had a player or two hurt. Our team really didn’t get to play together as a unit until the last few weeks. Now, I think we have a chance to play our best baseball when it truly matters.”

Hunter hopes pitching depth on the mound will continue to be a key for his team this week. Lovrich said it will boil down to pitching and defense on both sides.

“We knew when we played them early in the season that they really had good arms on the mound,” he said. “We’ve got to keep pressure on them, put the ball in play, avoid the strikeout and just hang in there. I think we will really have to be on our Ps and Qs defensively because 1 or 2 runs could win these games.”

The winner of this series will play either reigning 7A champ Bob Jones or Tuscaloosa County for the state title next week.

“I really see it as a win-win,” Lovrich said. “I hope we get to move on and play for a state title. But should we lose, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather lose to than Kyle. The good thing is one of us will be playing for a state championship.”

CLASS 7A SEMIFINALS

Schedule subject to change

Fairhope (31-10) at Enterprise (32-1), Thur., May 8, 5 and 7:30 p.m. (Game 3, Fri., May 9, 5 p.m., if needed)

Bob Jones (36-10) at Tuscaloosa County (30-12), Fri., May 9, 5 and 7 p.m. (Game 3, Sat., May 10, 1 p.m., if needed)