Around the middle of the regular season is when St. Aloysius’ baseball team began to hit its stride and ended the season on a three-game sweep of A young Park Place Christian team.

“Where we’re at right now, guys are competing well and going into the playoffs we’re definitely going against a talented group in Silliman,” St. Al coach Sid Naron said.

Tuesday the Flashes take on the defending MAIS champion Silliman Institute in the first round of the 2016 MAIS Class AAA baseball playoffs. Naron said this game would show his team what they’re made of as they go into the game against Silliman with a group of battle-tested seniors.

Silliman returned a group of key members from last year’s championship roster.

“They’re very, very baseball savvy,” Naron said. “Offensively, probably one of the better groups we’ve seen all year. We’re going to have to pitch them very well, locate early in the counts and not make mistakes, especially on the defensive side.”

Naron said Silliman doesn’t do anything on the mound that surprises their opponents but are consistent across the board.

The best thing he’s done to prepare for the matchup is to emulate what he’s read from scouting reports into practices, but the main component to winning is to not get deep into the pitching count.

“We have to make sure we hit early in the counts,” Naron said. “ They have some secondary pitchers that are plus pitches. If we don’t adjust it’ll cause for a long day for sure.”

Other than pitching, an efficient offense is also part of the recipe for success over Silliman.

The Flashes did complete a sweep against Park Place Christian in the final week of the regular season, which came after they were on the receiving end of sweep from Central Hinds Academy one week prior.

“I don’t think we swung the bat very well in the last few games. We were stymied a little bit against Central Hinds and bounced back against a young Park Place team,” Naron Said. “Offensively we’re going to have to get some production out of some guys that haven’t produced for us this year.

“Ultimately, guys are going to have to get hot and step up for us in order to beat a team of Silliman caliber.”