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LOCKHART – Edna coach Kensey Allen would have gladly settled for seven runs in Thursday’s Game 1 of the Cowboys’best-of-three Class 2A area playoff series against Salado.

Edna scored seven times but it wasn’t near enough as the No. 6 Eagles slugged their way to a 19-7 victory in a game stopped after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

“Seven runs is enough to win a ballgame any day of the week,” Allen said. “Ross (Orsak) came out and threw decent, threw good enough to get the job done. We had some key early mistakes and we couldn’t bounce back from it. We just kind of went downhill from there.”

Salado improved to 24-5 and will attempt to wrap up the series when the teams return here for Game 2 today at 6 p.m. If the Cowboys (20-7) win, the teams will play Game 3 here Saturday at 6 p.m. The winner will advance to the regional quarterfinals against the winner of today’s Troy-Danbury one-game playoff in Weimar.

Salado had 19 hits, including six for extra bases, and batted around twice, sending 11 batters to the plate in the first inning when it scored five times and 15 batters to the plate when it scored 10 runs.

Kevin Jackson had a grand slam, a double and six RBIs and Garrett Ward had a two-run home run and double and four RBIs.

“They sit back and wait for their pitch and their patient at the plate and they take the ball to all fields,” Allen said. “They threw a lefthander out there and we had trouble taking the ball to right field all day.”

Shiner St. Paul 6, Denton Calvary Academy 0

WACO – Kendall Kusak and Blue Hybner combined to throw a four-hit shutout Thursday in a 6-0 TAPPS Class 2A state semifinal baseball win over Denton Calvary Academy.

The Cardinals (24-8) advance to play Frisco Legacy, a 5-1 winner of Lake Jackson Brazosport, for the state title today at 10 a.m. at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton.

St. Paul used its speed to score early and take charge. The Cardinals, who stole seven bases in the game, grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first.

Travis Sauer drew a one-out walk and then quickly stole second and third before racing home on a throwing error by the Denton Calvary catcher. Josh Soto added a two-out single, stole second and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

"From talking to some other coaches they gave me an indication that we might be able to run on them and it worked well for us," Cardinals coach Mark Noska said. "We were able to be aggressive early and it kept us going and put the tempo where we wanted it."

The Cardinals added a pair of runs in the second with the help of an RBI double from Gil Hodges and then added solo tallies in the fourth and fifth.

Kusak held Denton Calvary to just three hits over four innings and struck out six.