The Benton Tigers completed a District 1-5A two-game sweep of the Parkway Panthers with a 5-3 victory Saturday at Benton.
In other 1-5A games, Airline fell to Captain Shreve 5-3 at Airline and Natchitoches Central defeated Byrd 10-8 at the Yellow Jackets’ LSUS field.
In a non-district game, Haughton defeated Quitman 13-2 in five innings at Haughton.
Captain Shreve has clinched the district championship. The Gators improved to 25-8 overall and 11-2 in district. Shreve and Airline will complete their series Sunday at 3 p.m. at Shreve.
Benton (24-9, 9-4) moved into a second-place tie with Parkway (20-8, 9-4).
At Benton, the Tigers’ Thomas Allen pitched a complete game. He allowed four hits, struck out seven and walked two.
Six Tigers combined for seven hits. Kade Bryant went 2-for-4 with a double. Hudson Brignac and Bryson Pierce had two RBI each.
Parkway’s Colton Smith also went the distance. He struck out five and walked three.
Sean Waits had a double.
Parkway struck first with two runs in the top of the second. Benton answered with three in the bottom of the inning. The Panthers tied it with one in the top of the fifth.
The Tigers broke the tie with two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Malachi Zeigler reached on an error. Wyatt Wilkins replaced him at first and moved to second on a wild pitch.
Hayden Millen and Case Jorden both singled to load the bases. Brignac’s single to right field brought home Wilkins. Millen scored on a groundout by Pierce.
Benton is scheduled to close the regular season with a makeup district game against Haughton Monday at 5 at Benton.
According to GeauxPreps.com, the Tigers are No. 14 in the non-select Division I power rankings. The No. 7-16 teams in the final rankings host first-round games.
Parkway is No. 11. The Panthers are scheduled to close the regular season at home Monday against DeRidder at 6.
Official playoff pairings will be announced by the LHSAA Tuesday.
At Captain Shreve, Airline scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game.
The Gators scored one in the top of the sixth and the Vikings answered with one in the bottom of the inning.
Shreve then scored two in the top of the seventh.
Airline’s Micah Johnson went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Starter Evan Wendrock went 5 2/3 innings. He allowed three hits, struck out three and walked four.
Airline dropped to 12-15 overall and 5-8 in district. The Vikings are scheduled to close the season Monday with a home doubleheader against Cedar Creek at 4.
At Haughton, Zach Ross went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI. Dalton Meachum went 2-for-3. JP Cormier, Justin Adkison and Troy Fielding had doubles.
Ashton Neighbors went four innings for the win. He struck out six and walked three.
Haughton is No. 20 in the power rankings.