Flashes move on to semifinals|Prep baseball playoffs

Published 12:00 am Sunday, May 3, 2009

St. Aloysius is starting to formulate a script for its run through the playoffs — win a laugher on the road, then wow the home fans with a heart-stopper.

Regan Nosser doubled in the go-ahead runs as the Flashes rallied for three runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday night, then held on for a wild 4-2 win over West Lowndes in Game 2 of a third-round Class 1A series.

Although St. Al swept the best-of-three series, it marked the second straight round in which it came from behind to win the clinching game after earning an easy win in Game 1. Last week, the Flashes (24-3) beat Cathedral in eight innings in Game 2 after rolling in Game 1.

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“We’ve done a good job with that all year,” said Nosser, who went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. “Several times we’ve come from behind and pulled out a win.”

St. Al will now make its first appearance in the Class 1A semifinals since 2002. It’ll face either East Webster or Stringer in a best-of-three series beginning on Thursday. Stringer took Game 1 from East Webster on Friday, but Saturday’s game was rained out. They’ll play on Monday and, if necessary, on Tuesday.

St. Al will be on the road for Game 1 and Game 3 of the South State finals, regardless of which team advances. Until then, they’ll take a moment to savor this one.

West Lowndes pitcher Tyquan Lucious kept the Flashes off the scoreboard until the fifth inning, when Nosser singled and scored on one of the Panthers’ five errors. West Lowndes got the run back on a controversial play in the top of the sixth.

With one out and runners on first and third, Lucious hit a line drive back at pitcher Ryno Martin-Nez. The ball kicked off Martin-Nez’s foot and into the glove of third baseman Stephen Evans, who then threw to second for an apparent inning-ending double play. The umpires ruled the ball had hit Martin-Nez and the ground, however, and the double play was wiped off the board. On top of that, the runner scored from third to put West Lowndes (20-8) ahead 2-1.

The breaks went against the Panthers in the bottom of the inning. A walk and an error put runners at first and second with two outs for Joseph Brown, who quickly fell behind in the count 0-2. Three straight pitches barely missed the strike zone to bring the count full before Brown hit a sharp grounder to short. Demetrius Malone misplayed the ball, allowing Corey Jones to score the tying run from second base.

Nosser, the No. 9 hitter, then smashed a double to the wall in left center, bringing in two runs to give St. Al a 4-2 lead.

“Standing on deck, I knew what I had to do. I had 100 percent trust that Joseph was going to get on base and give me a chance,” Nosser said.

West Lowndes had one last chance in the seventh.

Martin-Nez walked the leadoff batter and gave up a single to D.Q. Farmer before St. Al coach Clint Wilkerson pulled him. Wilkerson went with his Game 1 starter, Stephen Evans, who had thrown nearly 100 pitches on Thursday but asked Wilkerson for the chance to repeat his first-round feat of winning Game 1 and closing out Game 2.

He did.

Evans struck out Devin Malone for the first out of the inning, then got Clark McCollum to fly out to right. West Lowndes’ Ryan Stowers broke for third on contact, and was well off second base when Jones caught the ball. The St. Al right fielder fired a perfect strike to second to double up Stowers and end the game.

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com