St. Aloysius’ third go-round with Riverfield Academy was considerably more difficult than the first two, but still yielded the same result.

Jake Pierce tied the game with a two-run double in the top of the seventh inning, and then Lane Hynum put the Flashes ahead for good with an RBI single in the ninth as they beat Riverfield 7-5 Wednesday afternoon in Rayville, La.

The teams were playing for the third consecutive day. St. Al won the first two games of the three-game series by a combined score of 31-1.

“Playing three days consecutive was a small factor. We did come out flat, we hit balls right at people early and they found holes and swung it well early,” St. Al coach Sid Naron said. “The young man throwing for them competed very well. He bent but did not break and gave his club confidence.”

St. Al went into the seventh inning trailing 5-3, but managed to scrape together a rally to tie the game and send it to extra innings. Lee Simpson singled, Landon Middleton followed with a double, and both scored on Pierce’s double to tie the game at 5.

Hynum’s single in the ninth gave the Flashes (7-3, 3-0 District 3-AAA) the lead for good, and they added an insurance run on a bases-loaded walk to Will Pierce.

Hynum finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Casey Griffith, who pitched a complete game in an 8-0 win over the Raiders on Monday, came back to pitch 2 1/3 innings of relief and earned the win.

Griffith was the last of three pitchers the Flashes used. Rett Verhine and Garrett Breithaupt combined for 5 1/3 innings.

“They threw really well and kept us in it until we were able to bring Griffith in, and he was just gutsy,” Naron said.

St. Al will have Easter weekend off before playing two more district games next week against Manchester Academy. They’ll meet in Yazoo City on Tuesday, and at Bazinsky Field next Thursday.