No matter how they do in the classroom this year, the St. Aloysius Flashes are showing plenty of smarts on the baseball field.

Jordan Muirhead had an RBI single and scored two runs, Stephen Evans threw a five-hit shutout, and the Flashes used yet another fundamentally sound gameplan to beat Enterprise-Lincoln 6-0 Friday night at Bazinsky Field.

St. Al only had four hits in the game, but scored three runs in the third inning while only hitting two balls out of the infield. Defensively, catcher Sean Weaver threw out two runners on stolen base attempts and the Flashes did not commit an error.

&#8220That can carry you to a championship,” St. Al coach Clint Wilkerson said. &#8220You’re not going to hit every game. But if you throw strikes and play defense, you’re always going to have a chance.”

St. Al (5-1, 3-0 Division 7-1A) will play at Riverside this afternoon, then has a huge game Monday in Natchez against its archrival Cathedral. Wilkerson has not beaten the Green Wave since becoming St. Al’s coach in 2005, and several of the losses have been brutal.

He was excited about getting another chance, though, especially with a young Flashes team that is off to a great start.

&#8220The last few times we’ve played them, we’ve been young. We’re still young, but we’re experienced, so it’s going to be a great matchup,” said Wilkinson, who started seven freshmen or sophomores on Friday. &#8220I’m excited. It’s championship baseball. It’s what you coach and play for.”

On Friday, the Flashes started slow and then used what’s becoming their trademark to pull out the win – smallball, timely hits, good baserunning and solid pitching.

Enterprise (2-4, 2-1) starter Ryan Kennedy struck out five of the first six batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Jeremy Falls beat out an infield single to lead off the bottom of the third. The throw from the third baseman was wild, and Falls advanced to second. He then went to third on a groundout by Marsh Willis and scored on Muirhead’s RBI single to center.

After that, Kennedy lost control. He walked two of the next three batters and hit another, forcing in a run before Weaver put St. Al ahead 3-0 with a sacrifice fly.

Kennedy walked Justin Rushing to lead off the fourth and hit Muirhead, and both runners scored. Pierson Waring’s RBI double and Ryno Martin-Nez’s RBI single put St. Al ahead 5-0, and the Flashes added an insurance run in the sixth.

&#8220He was doing something different with his mechanics and it threw him off,” Enterprise coach Seth Lofton said of Kennedy’s struggles. &#8220You take away those couple of innings and it’s a different ballgame.”

Wilkerson said Kennedy’s swoon was the result of the Flashes making adjustments at the plate.

&#8220That was the first lefty we’ve seen this year. He carved us up the first time through the lineup, but we came back strong the second time through,” Wilkerson said. &#8220I knew going in we were going to have to make adjustments at the plate.”

Evans, meanwhile, got his swoon out of the way early. He allowed four hits in the first two innings – two of which were erased by Weaver – then only one hit over the last five. He struck out five, walked no one, and retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced.

PCA 3, Jackson Prep 0

Michael Busby tossed his second shutout in as many games as Porters Chapel beat Jackson Prep.

Busby, a Mississippi State signee, scattered four hits and only faced trouble one time. In the sixth, Busby retired the first two batters, then gave up two hits and a walk to load the bases. Facing Prep’s best player, Nick Schneeberger, Busby coaxed him into a weak groundout to end the threat.

Cody Ferguson hit a two-RBI double to highlight a three-run third inning for the Eagles (4-0).