The Parkway Panthers and Benton Tigers advanced to the quarterfinals of the baseball playoffs with victories Saturday.
The No. 3 seed Panthers completed a two-game sweep of District 1-5A foe and No. 14 Airline 11-9 at Parkway. Parkway won the first game Friday 6-4.
Parkway (29-5) will host the winner between No. 6 Ruston (29-8) and No. 11 Northshore (22-10) in a best-of-three series Friday and Saturday.
Airline closed it season 19-16.
The No. 4 seed Tigers completed a sweep of District 1-4A foe and No. 13 Northwood 7-3 at Benton. Benton won the first game 11-1 in five innings Friday.
Benton (31-5) will host No. 5 West Ouachita (28-10) in a best-of-three series Friday and Saturday. West Ouachita swept No. 21 Beau Chene 10-1 and 11-1 in the second round.
Benton will be making its seventh straight quarterfinal appearance in its final year in Class 4A.
The No. 12 seed Haughton Buccaneers saw their season come to an end. The Bucs fell to No. 5 West Monroe 6-0 at West Monroe. The Rebels took Game 1 Friday 5-4.
Haughton closed its season 20-11.
At Parkway, the Panthers, who were the designated visiting team, led 11-6 after scoring three runs in the top of the sixth.
It turned out they needed all three as Airline’s Dalton Burrell smacked a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to get the Vikings within two.
After Cole Broadway singled, Parkway senior Eric Brown left his usual position at the third base and took the mound. He got a groundout to end the game.
Brown also had an outstanding game at the plate. He went 2-for-2 with a home run, double and four RBI. He also drew a walk and scored three runs.
Caleb Reese had two hits, including a home run, and three RBI. Peyton Lewis and Amani Larry had one double each.
Parker Stevens, who pitched four innings of relief, got the win. He allowed two hits, no earned runs and didn’t walk any.
In his final game, Airline’s Hayden Travinski, who is bound for LSU, belted two home runs. The second was a grand slam that gave the Vikings a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the second.
Travinski’s first home run over the left-field fence came n the bottom of the first.
Burrell went 2-for-3 with the two RBI. Chris Lutterman also went 2-for-4 with a double.
After Airline took the 5-2 lead, the Panthers went ahead for good with five runs in the top of the third.
Amani Larry led off with a walk and Reese followed with a single. Brown then smacked a three-run home run over the left-field fence to tie it.
Christion Rayner singled and Gabe Larry reached on an error with one out. Courtesy runner Hunter Holder advanced to third on the error.
Larry stole second and Holder scored on an error, which allowed Larry to go to third. Collier Cloinger then brought Larry home with a groundout.
Airline closed the gap to one in the bottom of the inning. Lutterman and Burrell had back-to-back singles. Broadway was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Cole Tabor drew a two-out walk to make it 7-6. Stevens got a flyout to end the half-inning.
Amani Larry led off the fourth with a double, advanced to third on a sacrifice fly by Reese and scored on another sacrifice fly by Brown.
Reese smacked a two-run home in the top of the sixth to make it 10-6. Brown doubled and reached third on a flyout by Stevens. He scored on a wild pitch to give the Panthers the 11-6 advantage.
At Benton, Cole Horton smashed two home runs and had five RBI. Clint Lasiter went 2-for-3. Daniel Halbert also went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Cade Scott went 2-for-4.
Sophomore starter Grayson Gates got the win. He scattered six hits in 4 2/3 innings and walked only one.
The Tigers, who were the designated visiting team, led only 2-1 after five innings. But they scored two in the sixth and three in the seventh.
Horton’s second homer came in the seventh after Scott and Lasiter had back-to-back two-out singles.
The Tigers also scored both runs in the sixth with two outs.
Lasiter drew a walk with one out and Simmons drew one with two away. Halbert and Brennan Blaylock then had consecutive RBI singles.
Benton ended a scoreless game with two runs in the fourth. Lasiter led off with a single and then Horton hit one over the left-field fence.
At West Monroe, the Rebels’ Lane Little pitched a two-hitter. CJ McWilliams and Carter Griffin had the Bucs’ hits, both singles.
The game was scoreless through four innngs, but West Monroe put two on the board in each of the final three innings.
West Monroe improved to 25-10.
