The Benton Tigers are one victory away from advancing to the state tournament.
Benton, the No. 13 seed, defeated No. 5 St. Amant 4-2 in Hame 1 of their best-of-3 series in the quarterfinals of the non-select Division I playoffs Friday night at St. Amant.
Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, will follow.
Benton (30-9) got a strong performance from starter Kade Bryant. He allowed four hits, struck out four and walked five.
Tanner Webb came up big in relief in a pressure-packed situation.
St. Amant (26-11) loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with no outs after a pair of walks and a single. After Bryant got a strikeout, Webb replaced him. He struck out the first batter he faced on five pitches and the second on six the end the game.
After two scoreless innings, Benton scored three in the top of the third.
Hayden Millen led off with a single and Case Jorden reached on an error. Both advanced a base on another error.
Hudson Brignac scored Millen with a single. Jorden scored on an error on a grounder by Bryson Pierce. Pierce advanced to second on Bryant’s bunt into a fielder’s choice and third on a passed ball. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Caleb Frey.
The Tigers went up 4-0 in the fourth.
Leadoff batter Malachi Zeigler drew a walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kannon Greer and third on a single by Millen. He scored on a groundout by Jorden.
St. Amant rallied with single runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth.
The Gators had runners at first and second with no outs in the fifth. A sacrifice bunt advanced the runners. But Bryant induced two groundouts to limit the damage.
Benton recorded four hits off St. Amant starter Layne Swanson, who struck out four and walked three in 6 innings. Millen went 2-for-3.