PEARL — St. Aloysius coach Clint Wilkerson preaches to his baserunners a combination of careful observation and measured aggression.

On a day when the offense could manage only six hits behind an ace-worthy performance in Game 1 of the Class 1A state championship series by Stephen Evans, it made all of the difference in a 6-0 victory over Myrtle.

Wilkerson put his runners in motion quite a bit, and the strategy made sure the Flashes cashed in on every scoring opportunity. With the Flashes’ lineup having more speed than power, an aggressive approach with rip and runs fit them perfectly.

It’s a page straight out of St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa’s playbook. Put runners in motion, be aggressive and force the defense to be airtight.

“When you’re aggressive, you tend to force the defense to make some mistakes,” Wilkerson said. “We did a good job of taking advantage of some of their mistakes.”

Take the Flashes’ first big inning in the third. Evans led off with a little bleeder deep into the right corner. Ryno Martin-Nez walked and Regan Nosser drilled a hard-hit liner right up the middle to load the bases.

Two outs later, Wilkerson put the runners in motion and catcher Brendan Beesley delivered with a bloop within feet of where Evans’ hit landed a few batters earlier.

Three runs scored, all because of alert baserunning.

“Two-out hits win championships,” Beesley said. “That is our mentality as a baseball team. Be aggressive, not stupid on the basepaths. We watch them sitting on their heels and we took advantage of it.”

In the fourth, it was more of the same. Pierson Waring, with runners on the corners and two outs, plated one Nosser and set himself up for another run by alertly stealing second. An error moved Waring to third and allowed Justin Rushing to cash in and score. Blake Haygood drilled a single to left to bring home Waring and complete the scoring.

“Pierson did a great job of causing chaos on the basepaths,” Martin-Nez said. “They made errors and we capitalized on every single one of them and that’s what you’ve got to do to win championships.”

Every St. Al run scored with two outs, something that Wilkerson definitely likes.

“I really didn’t feel like we were really getting on it, offensively,” Wilkerson said. “But at this juncture, clutch hits suit me well.”

On the other side of the ledger, four baserunners for Myrtle reached. Three of them were either picked off or thrown out when caught stealing. Both teams had their opportunities. St. Al had a few more. But the difference was St. Al took full advantage of theirs.

And that’s why the Flashes are just one win away from another title.

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Steve Wilson is sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. You can follow him on Twitter at vpsportseditor. He can be reached at 601-636-4545, ext. 142 or at swilson@vicksburgpost.com.