The Benton Tigers and Haughton Buccaneers rolled into the second round of the Class 5A playoffs with home victories Tuesday.
District 1 champion Benton, the No. 7 seed, defeated No. 27 Chalmette 9-4. Haughton, the No. 8 seed, downed No. 25 Lafayette 7-1.
Benton (27-5) will host No. 10 Dutchtown (24-10) in a best-of-3 second-round series. Game 1 is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday. Game 2 is scheduled for noon Saturday. Game 3, if necessary, is set for 3 Saturday.
Haughton (26-7) will host District 1 foe Captain Shreve (17-16) in the second round. Shreve, the No. 24 seed, upset No. 9 St. Amant 5-4 in eight innings in the first round.
The Bucs and Gators split their district series with Haughton winning the first game 7-3 and Shreve the second 16-4. Game 1 is scheduled for 6 Friday. Game 2 is scheduled for 1 Saturday with Game 3, if necessary, following at 4.
In a Class 3A first-round game, No. 5 Iowa defeated No. 28 Bossier 13-3 in six innings at McMurry Park in Sulphur. The Bearkats finished their first season under head coach Chad Yates 8-18.
In a Class 1A first-round game Wednesday, No. 17 Plain Dealing (6-13) visits No. 16 Block (6-12) at 5.
At Benton, the Tigers built a 7-1 lead after five innings.
The Owls made things somewhat interesting in the sixth, scoring three and loading the bases with one out. Grayson Mims took the mound in relief and shut the door, striking out the first batter he faced and then inducing a fielder’s choice to end the threat.
Benton then answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Brock Van Hoy went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Gavin Jacobs went 2-for-2 with two RBI.
Dane Stearns went 2-for-4 with a double. Rylan Lawrence went 2-for-4.
Jack Walters had a triple and Clint Lasiter had a double.
Grayson Gates got the win. He allowed seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, walked three and struck out 10. Four of the hits, all singles, came in the sixth.
After Chalmette (17-11) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, Benton evened the score with a run in the bottom of the inning.
Van Hoy and Cade Stewart led off with singles. Van Hoy scored on a sacrifice fly by Jacobs.
The Tigers extended the lead to 4-1 in the third. Stearns doubled, stole third and scored on a Gates’ groundout.
Lawrence singled and Gray Walters, running for Gates, advanced to to third. Van Hoy singled with two outs, scoring Walters and Lawrence.
Gates struck out the side in the fourth.
Jack Walters opened the bottom of the inning with his triple and scored on a Lasiter sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.
The Tigers tacked on two more in the fifth. Lawrence and Van Hoy led off with singles and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Stewart. Jacobs brought home Lawrence with a single, and Van Hoy scored on an Austin Berry sacrifice fly.
After the Chalmette rally in the top of the sixth, Lasiter led off the bottom of the inning with his double and scored on a Stearns’ single. Stearns stole second, advanced to third after tagging up on a Lawrence fly ball and scored on a passed ball.
Van Hoy pitched the final inning. He gave up a walk with two outs then induced a popup to end the game.
At Haughton, Bucs starter Jacob Hernandez allowed just two hits and struck out eight in five innings. Austin Anderson struck out five of the six batters he faced in the sixth and seventh.
The Bucs got off to a fast start, scoring four in the bottom of the first.
Leadoff batter Carter Griffin was hit by a pitch. Peyton Stovall and Chandler Lytle loaded the bases with back-to-back singles.
Colin Rains then doubled, scoring Griffin and Stovall. Chase Keith brought home Rains and Lytle with a one-out double.
The Bucs went up 5-0 in the second. Jackson Voigt led off with a single. Joshua Sewell, running for Voigt, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Stovall single.
Lafayette’s lone run came on an RBI-double with two outs in the fifth.
Haughton added another run in the bottom of the inning thanks to an error on an Anderson grounder and an errant pickoff attempt. Connor Blank scored on the latter.
Stovall smacked a home run — his 14th of the season— over the right-field fence with two outs in the sixth to make it 7-1.
Stovall went 3-for-3 with three RBI. Rains and Keith had two RBI each. Roman Tolbert had a double.
At McMurry Park, Bossier got behind Iowa early and trailed 8-0 after three innings.
The Bearkats got on the board with two in the fourth. Coleman Beeson, who reached on an error, advanced to third on a single by Avery Williams and scored on Andre Green’s sacrifice fly. Williams also scored thanks to a single by AJ Shelton.
Roderick Francis stole home for the Bearkats’ final run in the fifth.
Iowa improved to 18-14.
