An outstanding season for the Benton Tigers came to a close Saturday afternoon in Watson.
The No. 5 seed Tigers fell to No. 1 Live Oak 3-1 in Game 2 of their best-of-3 non-select Division I semifinal series. The Eagles won Game 1 3-0 Thursday night,
District 1-5A champion Benton finished 35-6. Live Oak (32-6) will play No. 11 Sam Houston, which swept No. 2 Barbe, in a best-of-3 series for the championship next week at the state tournament in Sulphur.
Benton reached the semifinals for the second year in a row.
As in Game 1, pitching dominated Saturday’s game.
Live Oak starter Zant Gurney allowed four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked only one.
Benton starter Kade Bryant allowed two hits in six innings. He struck out three and walked one.
The game was tied at 1 through five innings.
Live Oak, the designated visiting team, broke the tie in the sixth. The Eagles loaded the bases with one out on a walk, single and hit-by-pitch. Brock Davis’ sacrifice fly scored the go-ahead run. A balk made it 3-1.
Leadoff batter Cole Snell reached on an error in the bottom of the sixth. But two flyouts and a fielder’s choice brought the inning to an end.
Kannon Greer drew a walk with two outs in the bottom of the seventh but a groundout ended the game.
Live Oak took a 1-0 lead in the first on Davis’ RBI-double with no outs.
Benton tied in the bottom of the frame, getting three of their four hits. Jackson Jones singled and advanced to second on a out-out single by Colton Birdsong. Bryant scored Jones with a single.
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