With their season on the line, the No. 5 seed Benton Tigers won a pair of nailbiters against No. 20 Sulphur to advance to the non-select Division I semifinals for the second straight year.
Benton won the first game 4-3 and the second 1-0, taking the best-of-3 series two games to one.
Benton (35-4) will visit No. 1 seed Live Oak (30-6) for a best-of-3 semifinal series next week. The Eagles defeated No. 8 Northshore two games to one in the quarterfinals, winning Game 3 3-2 Saturday.
Last year, Benton fell to No. 1 seed Barbe 4-1 in the semifinals at the state tournament in Sulphur. With the semifinals and finals being best-of-3 series for the first time this year, only the championship series will be played at the state tournament.
Sulphur, which entered the playoffs 16-18 and upset two higher seeded teams, closed its season 21-20.
Benton got outstanding pitching performances in both games.
Tanner Webb came close to pitching a perfect game in the finale. He took a no-hitter into the seventh. The Tors got a single with one out, but the Tigers sealed the deal with a double play.
An error with two outs in the top of the fourth resulted in a Sulphur batter reaching base.
Webb faced 21 batters. He struck out five. He threw only 67 pitches, 52 of which were strikes.
Sulphur also got a strong performance from Carter Wilson. He allowed four hits, struck out five and walked two.
The Tigers scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the first.
Case Jorden drew a walk and advanced to third on two wild pitches. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Hayden Millen.
Jordan, Millen, Cole Snell and Kade Bryant had Benton’s hit, all singles.
In the opener, Griffin Sibley went 3-for-4 with a home run double and three RBI. Colton Birdsong went 2-for-4 with a triple and double. Jorden also went 2-for-4.
Jackson Jones had an RBI-double. Millen, Snell and Turnipseed also had singles.
The Tigers outhit the Tors 11-3 but had trouble turning the hits into runs after a four-run first first inning.
However, the four runs proved to be enough behind the pitching of Bryant and Jax Prewitt.
Bryant started and went three innings. He allowed two hits and two runs with two strikeouts and two walks. Prewitt pitched the final four innings. He allowed one hit, struck out three and walked one.
Bryant got out of a jam in the bottom of the third. Sulphur, the designated home team, loaded the bases with two outs thanks to a walk and two hit-by-pitches. But Bryant induced a groundout to end the threat.
Prewitt entered the game at the start of the fourth. The Tors scored a run on an error, a single by Brodie DePriest and a sacrifice fly by Jay Michael Stelly. Prewitt ended the half-inning with a strikeout, but the run cut what had been a 4-0 Benton lead to 4-3.
Prewitt then proceeded to sit the next nine batters down in order.
Jorden led off Benton’s four-run first with a single. Snell singled with one out. Jones brought Jorden home with his double.
Sibley then smacked a three-run home run. The Tigers had plenty of chances to put more on the board. Sulphur pitcher Slade Shove-Knox got some clutch outs.
But in the end the Tigers did enough, which turned out to be plenty.