[4/22/04]By its very nature, playoff baseball is all about winning. For the St. Aloysius Flashes this weekend, winning early and often is key to advancing beyond the first round.

Second-seeded St. Al faces fourth-seeded Sebastopol on Friday at 3 p.m. in the opening game of a Class 1A regional at Edinburg. With a thin pitching staff, winning the first game and staying in the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination regional is critical for the Flashes.

Losing the opening game would force St. Al (10-9) to play five games in four days to win the regional and advance to the second round.

“It kind of will test the pitching,” St. Al coach Joe Graves said. “If you stay in the winner’s bracket, you’re OK. If you fall into the loser’s bracket, you play a possibility of five games in (four) days, and that could be a problem for some people.”

Kyle Richards will get the start for St. Al against Sebastopol, and Andy Wiles will start the second game of the regional on Saturday. After that, things get dicey for the Flashes.

Richards and Wiles have been the only proven pitchers for St. Al all season long. Jonathan Longmire, Marsh Willis and Drew Mazzanti all have pitched, but seen only limited time on the hill.

Graves said he may split innings between Richards and Wiles, or use the pitcher-by-committee approach. Whichever path he takes, it will be made easier if the Flashes stay in the winner’s bracket and keep his pitching staff fresh.

“We’ve got Marsh and lots of icy-hot,” Wiles joked about the task facing the staff. “It’s a pretty good amount of pressure because we only have three pitchers. But I think we’ll be fine.”

Pitching isn’t the only issue facing St. Al. They’ve been inconsistent on defense all season long, and will be pressured to step up their play there if they hope to advance.

“It’s always one bad inning that destroys the whole game,” outfielder Joe Mocknick said. “If our pitchers pitch well and the defense plays well, we could win the whole thing.”

The Flashes also will try to send Graves out a winner in his 22nd and final season at the helm. The longtime coach resigned from the school last week, but is staying on through the playoffs.

In 22 years at St. Al, Graves has advanced to the South State championship series several times and the Class 1A finals once, in 2002. St. Al was swept by Myrtle in that series, and both Graves and the Flashes would like nothing more than one more shot at a championship ring.

“We want to try to send him out a winner,” Richards said. “He’e been so close every time, and we want to try and get it for him this time.”

Graves wasn’t sure if the Flashes had what it takes to win it all the biggest obstacle, archrival Cathedral, beat them by the mercy rule twice this season and would loom as a third-round matchup but wasn’t ruling out some sort of run.

“I’d like to go out doing well and win a round or two in the playoffs if we can,” Graves said. “We’ve just got to see what happens.”