GREENLAND -- Trey Vaughan set the tone atop the Mansfield lineup, and his teammates followed along as the Tigers knocked off LifeWay Christian 7-1 in the opening game of the 2A-West Regional Baseball Tournament on Thursday.
A light rain fell for most of the game, but that did not dampen Vaughan's big day at the plate. The junior right fielder was 4 for 4 with a home run, double and three RBI for the No. 1 seed Tigers (19-4). The win also punched Mansfield's ticket to the Class 2A state tournament next week, which will also be held at Greenland.
"Trey's has struggled a little bit this year hitting, but he's been close the last two weeks," Mansfield Coach Layton Robinson said. "We'd bumped him down in the order, but here lately he's had some really good at-bats, hitting the ball well in the cage. So we bumped him back up in the district championship game and he's been hitting well for us since then."
Vaughan got things started for the Tigers in the bottom of the first inning with a seven-pitch at-bat against LifeWay starter Stephen Seim. Vaughan got a pitch he could handle with a 2-2 count and drove a double to left. Seim was able to work around the hit to keep the game scoreless, but that changed in the bottom of the third.
With one out, Mansfield nine-hole hitter Tyler Turnipseed laced a rocket to left for a double and Turnipseed took third on an error. That brought up Vaughan, who drove an 0-1 pitch the opposite way into right, scoring Turnipseed for a 1-0 lead. The Tigers tacked three more runs on the board including a triple by Fisher Wilsey and a 4-0 lead.
LifeWay (13-13) got on the board in the top of the fourth. Asa Fowler reached on a walk and moved to second on an error. With two outs, Connor Helms belted an RBI double to left, scoring Fowler from second.
That was all the run support the Tigers needed. Mansfield used four pitchers in the game, a plan Robinson said his team had hoped for coming into the game.
"The last three years, this is how we've done it," said Robinson of his pitching strategy. "The guy that starts Thursday, we try to keep him under 60 pitches so that we can bring him back Saturday. We are fortunate enough that we have enough guys that can throw strikes so that we can piece it together and not burn anyone else for tomorrow."
The 4-1 advantage grew to 7-1 in the fifth when the Tigers added three more runs. Vaughan was responsible for two of the runs, delivering a two-run home run to center after Turnipseed was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Vaughan's two-run blast extended Mansfield's lead to 6-1 and the Tigers added one more run for the final.
Mansfield will take on Cotter today in the semifinals at noon. Cotter rallied past Mountainburg 8-7 in Thursday's second game.
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NoneREGIONAL BASEBALL
Class 1A Region 1
at Harrison
Thursday
1st-1E Lead Hill 15, 4th-1W Mulberry 1
2nd-1W Ozark Catholic 17, 3rd-1E Omaha 3
1st-1W Scranton 12, 4th-1E Alpena 0
3rd-1W County Line 21, 2nd-1E Jasper 9
Today
Lead Hill vs. Ozark Catholic, noon
Scranton vs. County Line, 2:30 p.m.
Class 2A West Region
at Greenland
Thursday
1st-4 Mansfield 7, 4th-1 LifeWay Christian 1
2nd-1 Cotter 8, 3rd-4 Mountainburg 7
1st-1 Greenland 18, 4th-4 Hector 1
2nd-4 Lavaca 22, 3rd-1 Yellville-Summit 3
Today
Mansfield vs. Cotter, noon
Greenland vs. Lavaca, 2:30 p.m.
Class 3A Region 1
at Harrison
Thursday
1st-1 Elkins 10, 4th-4 Paris 0
2nd-4 Danville 10, 3rd-1 Lincoln 8
1st-4 Charleston 20, 4th-1 Flippin 3
3rd-4 Booneville 12, 2nd-1 West Fork 9
Today
Elkins vs. Danville, noon
Charleston vs. Booneville, 2:30 p.m.
Class 4A North Region
at Gravette
Thursday
1st-1 Gravette 4, 4th-4 Pottsville 3
2nd-4 Morrilton 7, 3rd-1 Shiloh Christian 4
Today
1st-4 Clarksville vs. 4th-1 Prairie Grove, noon
2nd-1 Farmington vs. 3rd-4 Dardanelle, 2:30 p.m.