The Haughton Bucs and Benton Tigers opened two-game series against parish and District 1-5A rivals with victories Thursday.
Haughton defeated Airline 6-0 at Airline, and Benton got past Parkway 8-5 at Parkway.
In the other 1-5A games, Byrd dropped Captain Shreve 14-4 at Byrd’s field at LSUS, and Natchitoches Central topped Southwood 11-0 at Southwood.
Benton (18-3, 5-0) is now the only 1-5A team without a district loss. Byrd (16-3, 4-1) and Captain Shreve (10-11, 4-1) are one game back in the standings. Haughton (19-4, 3-2) and Airline (7-14, 3-2) are both two games back.
At Airline, Jacob Hernandez pitched a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts.
Chandler Lytle went 2-for-2 with a double. Roman Tolbert went 2-for-4.
Peyton Stovall had a triple and drew two walks. Carter Griffin had a double. Chase Keith had two RBI.
Ahead 1-0, the Bucs put three on the board in the top of the third.
Griffin led off with a double and Stovall walked. Lytle’s bunt single loaded the bases.
Keith’s groundout to second scored Griffin. Keith stole second and Stovall scored on an error. Keith reached third on the error and stole home to make it 4-0.
Haughton added a run in the fifth on Keith’s sacrifice fly. That followed a singles by Lytle and Tolbert.
The Bucs’ final run came on a Tolbert single after consecutive walks in the seventh.
Triston Hargrave had a double for Airline in the seventh.
Airline starter Caleb Hemmings went five innings. He allowed five hits and one earned run.
The Bucs and Vikings are scheduled to close the series at 1 p.m. Saturday at Haughton.
At Parkway, Benton overcame a 4-1 deficit with seven runs in the top of the fifth.
Clint Lasiter, Dane Stearns, Rylan Lawrence, Brock Van Hoy, Gavin Jacobs and Brady Blaylock all had hits in the inning. The Tigers also took advantage of a couple of passes balls.
Lawrence went 2-for-4 in the game with two RBI. Stearns went 2-for-3. Blaylock had a double and two RBI with two outs in the sixth.
Hayden Hable went the distance for the win.
Parkway’s Brandon Levy went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Cameron Fink and Barrett Newman had two hits each.
Parkway dropped to 11-8 and 0-5. The teams are scheduled to meet again at 1 Saturday at Benton.
Tuesday, Plain Dealing defeated Lincoln Prep 22-19 in a District 1-1A game. The Lions improved to 3-9 overall.
NOTE: The above report is based on information on teams’ GameChanger accounts and provided by coaches.
