There are two sides to an incredible comeback. On Wednesday, while the St. Aloysius Flashes sprinted from the dugout in celebration as the final run stepped across home plate, the Vicksburg Gators left the field devastated and heartbroken by the victory that slipped through their fingers.

St Al defeated Vicksburg 7-6 in a rollercoaster of a game that stretched all the way to the eighth inning in the final game of the Battle on the River spring break tournament at Bazinsky Field on Wednesday night.

Adam Francisco’s RBI single capped the Flashes’ comeback from a four-run deficit and gave them their eighth consecutive victory — and the second in a row in which they came from behind. St. Al beat Greenville 9-5 on Tuesday after falling behind 4-0 in the top of the first inning.

“The biggest plus is finding ways to continue to compete and finding a way to win at the end,” St. Al coach Sid Naron said. “I think that’s really going to help us moving forward in those close games when we are down.”

Going into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Gators held a 6-2 lead and were just three outs away from the win. An error and two singles loaded the bases, however, and Josh Collins drove in two runs with a single. An error led to another run. With the tying run on third and one out, Tyler Breithaupt grounded out but Collins made it home and the game went into extra innings.

The Gators couldn’t get anything going in the top of the eighth, then a single and two stolen bases by James Trichell left St. Al a hit away from the win. Adam Francisco popped up to center, but the ball fell before any Vicksburg defenders could reach it and Trichell made it home safely.

“My kids played their butts off against a great team, but at the end of the day you have to give St. Al credit,” Vicksburg coach Derrick DeWald said. “They just kept attacking, and were able to get four runs and tie it up in the bottom of the seventh. All we needed was three outs, and they got four runs before three outs. They just did what they needed to do to find a way to win the ballgame.”

Coming off of a disheartening 12-1 loss to Wayne County earlier Wednesday, the Gators bounced back with plenty of energy and came out swinging. They notched three hits in the first two innings and made solid contact on their outs. Meanwhile, St. Al scored the game’s first run on an RBI single by Thomas Trichell that scored his twin brother James.

In the fifth, Vicksburg’s Alfred Barnes hit a single that scored Tyrese Wolfe. Then Ty-Ron Moore hit a deep fly ball to left field, sending Barnes home and giving the Gators a 2-1 lead.

St. Al came right back in the bottom of the fifth. Kieran Theriot smacked a double that sent Brandon Steed home and tied it at 2.

In the top of the sixth, Vicksburg struck for four runs to take what appeared to be a commanding 6-2 lead. Two errors, a wild pitch and a hit batter helped the Gators along. Haden Luke drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Moore had an RBI single.

DeWald said it was his team’s best day hitting this season. Barnes had two hits and one RBI, Malik Barnes had three hits and Wolfe had two.

“We found a way,” DeWald said. “We put the ball in play, we bunted, we stole, we did a lot of great things tonight. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to win the game. My kids are hurting. I’m proud of them for the effort that they put in, because I didn’t know which team was going to show up for this game, compared to the first game, the way we played. Right now, this game hurts. To me, that shows me right there that we’re growing as a team.”

Luke pitched 7 1/3 innings. He allowed 11 hits, but didn’t walk a batter and only three of St. Al’s seven runs were earned. The Gators committed six errors. Luke finished with 10 strikeouts.
St. Al coach Sid Naron knew it would be a tough matchup facing Luke.

“He competed very, very well,” Naron said. I thought he pitched extremely well. We knew we had our hands full. Especially the first couple of innings, he was keeping the ball down, mixing the pitches. We made some baserunning mistakes, made some mistakes early, and it was a rollercoaster.”

For the Flashes, Lane Hubbard threw 5 2/3 innings, striking out four and allowing three earned runs. James Trichell pitched the last 2 1/3 innings and allowed two hits and no runs.

Theriot had three hits and one RBI, and Collins had two hits and three RBIs for the Flashes.

“Coming in, we knew our pitching was really stretched thin, and I thought Lane Hubbard threw extremely well,” Naron said. “He didn’t have his best stuff, he really grinded that outing out. James Trichell coming in and being able to throw those zeroes in behind him and giving us an opportunity to score and tie up the game was even bigger. Being able to come back and win a game like that is unbelievable.”