The Black Diamonds moved to 9-6 on the season and booked a spot in the Friday evening semifinals at Crowder Field on the UA-Fort Smith campus. They were scheduled to face Fort Smith Southside at 5:30 p.m.
Matt Oberste drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly to put Sallisaw up 3-2 in the third inning.
The Diamonds then pulled away in the top of the fifth as they strung together several multiple-base hits. Trevor Prewett doubled and scored on David Hadley's RBI double to make it 4-2 before Tyler Sutlerland's sacrifice drove in another run. Jake Seay, Matt Taylor and Prewett all hit triples in the inning as Sallisaw built a big enough lead to win by the run rule after five innings.
Hadley, a sophomore, earned the win on the mound. He held Union Christian to three hits while improving his record to 3-1.
In other first-round games on Wednesday, Southside beat Abundant Life 4-0 and Northside defeated Arkansas Baptist 15-2.
The tournament will wrap up on Saturday. Depending on the outcome of their semifinal game against Southside, the Diamonds will either play for third place at 3:30 p.m. Saturday or for the championship at 5:30 p.m.
VIAN 11, MULDROW 0
MULDROW - The Wolverines picked up their third-straight victory on Wednesday afternoon as Zach Truett pitched a complete-game shutout.
Truett ran his record to 3-1 this season by limiting the Bulldogs to three hits while striking out nine.
Senior catcher Jarrett "Gee" Tyler keyed the offensive attack with a three-run home run, part of an eight-run inning in the top of the sixth that put the game away.
Manny Sallee also had a big hit for Vian, smashing a bases-loaded triple to drive in three runs as the Wolverines improved to 15-4. The victory came on the heels of a Monday win over Stigler and a Tuesday victory against Central.
