The St. Aloysius Flashes cleared away the appetizers on Saturday. Now it’s time for the main course.

Pierson Waring had three hits and scored three runs, Stephen Evans was 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and the Flashes finished off a two-game sweep of French Camp with a 16-0 victory in Game 2 of their first-round Class 1A playoff series. St. Al’s reward is a date in the second round with archrival Natchez Cathedral, which swept Noxapater in the first round and has yet to lose a game this season.

Game 1 is Thursday night in Natchez, and Game 2 is Friday at Bazinsky Field. If a Game 3 is necessary, it’ll be back in Natchez on Saturday.

“This is arguably the biggest sporting event since I’ve been at St. Al,” said Clint Wilkerson, who is in his fifth season as the Flashes’ coach. “I can’t say it’s just another game, because it’s not. We know they’re a wall that stands between us and our goal. If you can’t get up for this, you need to have your heart checked.”

Going against Cathedral (21-0) figures to be a shade tougher than what the Flashes (20-3) faced against French Camp (8-11). St. Al had 30 hits and outscored the Panthers 30-2 in the two-game sweep. Five St. Al pitchers combined to allow just six hits in the series.

Joseph Brown started and threw three scoreless innings in Game 2, followed by Regan Nosser and Ryno Martin-Nez for one inning apiece. Brown gave up two singles and a walk after retiring the first two batters of the game, then got Curtis Collier to ground out for the final out of the first inning. He set the next six batters down in order before giving way to Nosser.

“Jo-Jo did what we needed him to do. He threw strikes and filled it up,” Wilkerson said. “Same with Nosser. And then Ryno threw a mini-bullpen that last inning.”

The Flashes didn’t hit the ball quite as hard as they did in the opener, but still matched their hit total of 15 from Game 1. An infield hit by Waring and a bloop single by Martin-Nez helped spark a three-run rally in the first, and St. Al added five more in the second and seven in the third. They were helped by a shaky performance from French Camp starter Bruster Dupont, who hit five batters in two innings plus.

Dupont left after Brendan Beesley reached on an error to lead off the third inning, and Waring was hit by a pitch. Paxton Cupit came on to pitch and promptly gave up an RBI single to Blake Haygood and a two-run single to Evans that made it 11-0. Waring also had an RBI single later in the inning as St. Al sent 13 batters to the plate and stretched the lead to 15-0.

Pinch-hitter Reid Evans drove in a run with a single in the bottom of the fourth to close out the scoring.

“We weren’t getting lackadaisical, and that’s important,” Wilkerson said. “Not taking innings off and at-bats off. That’s the main thing in a game like that.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com