The Haughton Bucs completed a two-game District 1-5A sweep of the Byrd Yellow Jackets with a 12-7 victory Sunday afternoon at Byrd’s home field at LSUS.
Haughton (25-5, 9-3) moved into sole possession of second place, two games behind Benton (24-4, 11-1). Byrd (20-6, 8-4) dropped to third.
The Bucs still have a shot at a share of the district championship. But they will have to sweep Parkway (16-10, 5-7) in their final series and hope Natchitoches Central (14-18, 4-8) sweeps Benton.
The Haughton-Parkway series is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Monday at Haughton. The Benton-Natchitoches Central series is scheduled to start at 6 Tuesday at Benton.
Joshua Sewell went 2-for-2 with a triple and three RBI Sunday. Chase Keith went 2-for-4. Chan Lytle also had two hits.
Peyton Stovall hit a solo home run and drew three walks.
The Bucs started strong, scoring five in the top of the first. The Jackets got one back in the bottom of the inning.
Haughton added single runs in the second and third. But Byrd tied it at 7 with two in the second and four in the third.
The Bucs regained the lead with a run in the fourth.
Carter Griffin and Stovall had back-to-back walks to start the inning. They each moved up a base on Lytle’s bunt. Austin Anderson’s sacrifice fly scored Griffin to make it 8-7.
The Bucs gave themselves plenty of breathing room with four runs in the sixth.
Stovall led off with a walk, advanced to third on a Lytle single and scored on an Anderson groundout.
Chase Keith reached on an error. Coleman Stafford, running for Anderson, advanced to second on the play.
The runners advanced on Hunter Chavis’ groundout. Jackson Voigt then walked to load the bases.
Stafford stole home to make it 10-7. Keith stole third and Drew Palmer, running for Voigt, moved to second. Keith scored on an error, and Roman Tolbert brought home Palmer with a single.
Relievers Caleb Brown, who got the win, and Austin Anderson limited Byrd to one hit over the final 4 1/3 innings. Anderson didn’t allow a hit and struck out three over the final three innings.
Haughton took advantage of three walks, a hit-by-pitch and a balk in the first inning. Keith singled home the first run, and Stovall scored on the balk.
The Bucs loaded the bases with two outs, and Sewell cleared them with a triple for the 5-0 lead.
Stovall’s homer came in the second inning.
Keith led off the third with a single, advanced to second on an error, moved to third on a Chavis sacrifice bunt and scored on a Voigt groundout.
