The Benton Tigers and Airline Vikings opened District 1-5A play with victories Tuesday.
Defending champion Benton defeated Byrd 8-4 at Benton. Airline edged Evangel Christian 9-8 in 10 innings at Airline.
In another opener, Haughton fell to Natchitoches Central 4-2 at Haughton.
Elsewhere, Providence Classical Academy defeated North Caddo 7-2 in Vivian.
At Benton, Byrd broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the top of the third. The Tigers answered with three in the bottom of the inning,
Benton added three more in the fourth for a 7-3 lead. The Yellow Jackets scored their final run in the top of the fifth. The Tigers matched them with one in the bottom of the frame.
Benton had six hits. Cole Snell had a two-run double in the fourth and finished with three RBI.
The Tigers also took advantage of numerous Byrd errors and three walks.
Starting pitcher Slade Stephens went five innings for the win. He allowed two earned runs, struck out four and walked one. Bud Burns pitched two perfect innings in relief with four strikeouts.
Benton (11-2-2) and Byrd (3-9) are scheduled to complete the series Thursday at Byrd’s LSUS field at 6.
At Airline, Silas Endris led off the bottom of the 10th with an inside-the-park home run to win it
The Vikings led 8-3 through four innings. Evangel scored two in the fifth then tied it with three in the sixth.
The Eagles had back-to-back singles with two outs in the top of the seventh. But Drew Robinson got the third out on a dropped third strike.
The Vikings got a leadoff single by Austin Smith in the bottom of the inning. He reached second on a sacrifice bunt but that was it and the game went into extra innings.
Airline put runners at first and second in the eighth with one out but couldn’t score. Crew Chandler tripled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth but remained at third. Evangel didn’t threaten in the top of the ninth. The game then came to a sudden end with Endris’ home run.
The Vikings had 14 hits. Endris went 3-for-4 with five RBI. Smith went 3-for-5. Ayden Hawn went 2-for-4. Robinson also went 2-for-4.
Endris also pitched 4 2/3 innings of relief. He allowed four hits, struck out six and walked one. Robinson pitched the final 4 1/3. He gave up six hits but only one run which was unearned. He struck out five and walked one.
Airline (6-8) and Evangel (8-4) are scheduled to compete the series Thursday at 6 at Evangel.
At Haughton, Natchitoches Central scored three runs in the top of the second for a 3-0 lead. Russ Barrett and Carson Plant led off the bottom of the inning back-to-back singles. Barrett scored on a groundout by Drake Cooper to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The Chiefs took a 4-1 lead in the fifth. Haughton scored one in the bottom of the inning to get within two, but the Bucs didn’t threaten in the sixth and seventh.
Landon Rolland pitched five innings in relief. He struck out five no walks.
Plant went 2-for-3 with a double. Seth Breen went 2-for-4 with a double.
Haughton (9-5) and Natchitoches Central (10-3) are scheduled to complete the series Thursday at 5 in Natchitoches.