MINDEN, La. &8212; The first round of the MPSA Class A South State playoffs did not start exactly the way the Huntington Hounds were wanting it to start &8212; with a win.

The District 8-A champion Glenbrook Apaches took a 1-0 lead and the momentum in the best-of-three series by defeating District 7-A runner-up Huntington 9-5 Tuesday afternoon.

The pivotal game two will be played today at 6 p.m. at Huntington, and the Hounds (13-9) must win to extend the series to a third and deciding game Friday at Glenbrook.

And Glenbrook won the game thanks to a grand-slam home run by Chase Wentz in the bottom of the fourth inning that broke a 3-3 tie and six Huntington errors.

&8220;We are not able to make routine plays. That was the only difference in the game,&8221; Huntington head coach Mitch Ashmore said. &8220;We simply cannot be consistent enough on defense.&8221;

Glenbrook scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, but Huntington answered with one run in the top of the second and two runs in the top of the third thanks to Richard Steele&8217;s two-run home run.

But just when it appeared that Huntington had the momentum on its side, Wentz took it away with his big home run. The Hounds&8217; defense also let them down when it mattered most. Wentz finished a triple away from hitting for the cycle.

&8220;They had only one earned run. We out-hit them,&8221; Ashmore said. &8220;We had 10 hits. We had two home runs. You look at the numbers and wonder how we got beat.&8221;

Landon Willard hit a solo home run for the Hounds in the top of the sixth inning, but it was not enough.

Sylva Bay 13, WCCA 6

WOODVILLE &8212; With the District 6-A champion Rams out to a 4-0 lead after three innings and starting pitcher Corey Ellis doing good on the mound, it looked like they would be on their way to taking a 1-0 lead over the Saints in the first round of the Class A South State playoffs.

But when Ellis got hit by a pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning, the wheels came apart for the Rams, who committed seven of their eight errors in the final three innings and the Saints, the No. 2 seed out of District 5, rallied to win the game and take control of the best-of-three series.

&8220;Corey Ellis was pitching a great game. He had them handcuffed,&8221; WCCA head coach Ray Olive said. &8220;He got hit by a pitch in the fourth on his pitching elbow. I took him out in the start of the fifth and Dor/ came in.&8221;

Game two will be Thursday night at 6 p.m. at Sylva Bay. And it will be a must-win for WCCA (9-13).

WCCA scored one run in the bottom of the first when Dor/ scored on a passed ball. The Rams added two runs in the bottom of the second on an RBI sacrifice bunt by Zach Pourciau and an RBI single by Lane Allen McCarty and another run in the bottom of the third on an RBI groundout by Pourciau.

Meanwhile, Sylva Bay&8217;s bats couldn&8217;t do much of anything against Ellis in the first three innings. The Tigers finally got to him by scoring three runs in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 4-3.

Sylva Bay tried to take control of the game by scoring four runs in the top of the fifth off five hits and four errors. WCCA cut the lead to 7-6 by scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but that would be as close as the Rams would get.

&8220;That&8217;s where we had our inning where we made four of our eight errors,&8221; Olive said. &8220;(Joseph) Landry pitched the sixth and seventh and we made three more errors. You can&8217;t win ball games like that.&8221;

Sylva Bay put the game out of reach by scoring six runs on three errors and some key hits in the top of the seventh.