NATCHEZ — Traveling to Chester Willis Field for a Class 1A second-round series opener against Cathedral: about $15 for gas.

Overwhelming your hated archrival with 15 runs on 16 hits: priceless.

If you go

Today, 6 p.m. – Cathedral at St. Aloysius

St. Aloysius put an end to Cathedral’s 21-game winning streak with a 15-6 victory Thursday thanks to a clutch performance by pitcher Stephen Evans and excellent hitting.

The first three innings decided the contest, as the Flashes hung 12 on the board, including six in the third.

The series shifts tonight to Bazinsky Field at 6 p.m., with the Flashes (21-3) needing only a victory to move on in the 1A playoffs.

Both coaches agreed on one thing: Thursday’s win was just one game.

“It’s just one win,” St. Al coach Clint Wilkerson said. “We swung the bats well, hit balls hard, Evans threw a great baseball game, battled, had a lot of heart, but it is what it is: one baseball game. We’ve got to overmatch what we did tonight. Tomorrow’s a new day and we’ll be at 0-0 when gametime starts.”

Cathedral coach Craig Beesley had the same message for his charges, especially after his ace Preston Edwards was rocked in his only two innings and the defense was shaky behind him with six costly errors.

“The best thing about this game is that they can’t take those 10 runs with them,” Beesley said. “ It’s 0-0. I don’t think we can play any worse than we did tonight.”

While Evans was a model of consistency on the mound for most of the contest, Edwards’ control eluded him in the first two innings, allowing St. Al hitters to feast on his fastball with him down in the count.

In the first, catcher Sean Weaver put St. Al on the board with an RBI single and a wild pitch scored another to put St. Al up 2-0.

After Evans pitched out of a runner-on-third jam in the first, the Flashes’ bats went back to work with two outs in the top of the second. A two-out walk by Pierson Waring and a perfectly executed hit and run by Waring and hitter Blake Haygood got the Flashes into scoring position for Ryno Martin-Nez, who laced a single up the middle for an RBI. Evans reached on a costly error to load the bases for Weaver, who blasted a shot off the fence for a three-RBI triple.

“We were hot with the bats tonight. No doubt about that,” Weaver said. “When he (Edwards) fell behind, we took advantage and I feel we’ve got to do that tomorrow.”

Evans lost his control in the third, as two walks and an error loaded the bases. Hunter Foster drew a bases-loaded walk and Edwards plated two more with a double. But Evans struck out the final three Green Wave batters he faced as Cathedral reduced the deficit to 6-3.

In the third, the wheels fell off the wagon for Edwards. A walk and an error put two on for Waring, who legged out an RBI double to right. Haygood drove in two more off another two-bagger to end Edwards’ day.

Reliever Tyler Morrison got two outs off a force-out at second and a pop-up to first, but Weaver singled to put two on for Corey Jones, who blasted a hanging breaking ball over the right-field fence to put the Flashes up 12-3.

Evans line was a good one with seven strikeouts, eight hits and four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings of work.

“I just located my pitches and mixed them all up,” Evans said.