WACO, Texas — With one swing of the bat, Gus Milligan got South Lake Charles off to a winning start at the Little League Southwest Regional baseball tournament Friday night.

Milligan drove a two-run home run in the fifth inning put SLC ahead for good in a 5-2 victory over Texas West in SLC’s opening game in Pool A action at Norcross Stadium. He also drove in his team’s first run with a double in the third.

“First of all, we really wanted to get ahead of this Texas team, because we knew they were one of the better teams in our bracket,” Milligan said. “As long as we keep playing our game and working as a team, we should be fine.”

SLC, the Louisiana state champion, will play its second pool game against Texas East at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Milligan’s heroics came in support of Andrew Guillory, the right-hander who went the distance on the mound. Guillory didn’t allow an earned run and struck out eight, and was assisted by a defense that turned two double plays.

The first of those came after Texas West got the first two runners on base in the third inning and thwarted the threat, and the lone baserunner Guillory allowed the rest of the way came in the fourth when the leadoff man reached on a strikeout.

“We turned two double plays, and that’s our bread and butter is our defense,” SLC coach Scott Meche said. “It kind of let us down. We made a couple errors we don’t normally make, but the double plays were huge.”

SLC fell behind 2-0 in the second inning, when a pair of errors turned into unearned runs, but there was no panic. After all, it was a familiar position as SLC trailed Bossier City in the semifinals and final of the state tournament before rallying to win.

SLC responded in the top of the third with an RBI double from Milligan that was just fair inside the third-base bag and brought home Bryce LaRocca for its first run, and Mauri Miller’s single to right scored Milligan to level the score.

The score stayed that way until the top of the fifth, when Davis Meche walked against Texas West pitcher Travis Rafferty. That was the last batter Rafferty, who struck out four and walked two in the six hitters he faced, and he was replaced by Jakub Rayfield.

Milligan was the first to face Rayfield, and he unloaded on a hanging curveball, sending it deep into the trees beyond the fence in left-center field for the go-ahead, two-run home run.

“His arm slow was slowing down, and he hung that curveball,” Milligan said. “Our motto is ‘Hang it, bang it.’”

SLC added an insurance run in the sixth, when Payton Whitehead walked and was followed by a Ben David single. Both runners moved up on a LaRocca groundout, and Chandler Ware, a pinch runner for Whitehead, scampered home on a wild pitch.

It was insurance SLC didn’t need as Guillory finished off the 86-pitch outing with a pop-up to Miller at first base to end the game.

“We threw our ace at them, and we wanted him for the final,” Meche said. “They were saving everybody, 35 (pitches apiece), and I said no way. We’re going, after the first game; if we win that, he can pitch in the final if he feels good. If not, I have nine guys who can throw, so we’re going to go at it.”

In Pool B games Friday, New Mexico’s Trent Kiraly smacked two home runs during a nine-run ninth inning to send his team to a wild 13-8 win over Arkansas, which rallied from 4-0 down in the sixth to force extra innings, before Nick Skaggs and Jaydon Collins combined for 14 strikeouts for Mississippi in a 2-1 win over Colorado.(MGNonline)