Quality starting pitching and a five-run third inning propelled Class 5 No. 3 Webb City to a 7-2 victory over Parkview to open postseason action on Tuesday afternoon at Chuck Barnes Field.

The top-seeded Cardinals (25-5) advanced to the District 6 semifinals and host fourth-seeded McDonald County at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

"We are excited about our team," Webb City coach Flave Darnell said on his postgame radio interview. "We have to keep playing well. Hopefully, we keep putting runs on the board. I can tell our guys are ready to play. We are an old team. We have played a lot of games. Hopefully, things will go our way. We have a lot of pitchers still left available for this tournament.

"Playoff baseball, you just try to survive and advance." Webb City struck for two runs on three hits in the opening frame to grab the early momentum. The Cardinals extended their lead to 7-0 after the third.

Shane Noel recorded an RBI triple to spark the rally, while Matt Woodmansee added an RBI single. Aidan Brock broke the game open with a three-run home run to left field.

"We had some good atbats with two outs to get a couple of runs," Darnell said on the radio. "Aidan had a big hit obviously in the third inning that gave us a little bit of breathing room."

A Crowder College signee, Noel was solid on the mound for Webb City, holding the Vikings to one run, five hits and two walks while fanning six batters. Noah Mitchell allowed a run over an inning of work in relief.

"Shane got better as the game went on," Darnell said. "He definitely got stronger. I thought his fifth and sixth innings were really, really good. We wanted to keep him under a pitch count. We were able to do that. Noah came in and did a good job throwing strikes."

Cole Gayman, Woodmansee and Noel had six of the Cardinals' nine hits.

Trenton Viviano took the loss for Parkview (4-24). Zane Englind and Delton Orcutt accounted for the Vikings' run-scoring hits.