With a lot of young players making the team’s first postseason appearance in three years, St. Aloysius’ baseball playoff opener was bound to be a learning experience.

Like those often do, it turned out to be a rather painful lesson.

Five St. Al pitchers combined to issue nine walks and hit three batters, and when they did put the ball in the strike zone Columbia Academy pounded it. The Cougars had 12 hits and cruised to a 19-0 run-rule rout in Game 1 of their MAIS Class 5A playoff series at Bazinsky Field on Tuesday.

St. Al (12-15) lost its fifth game in a row.

Game 2 is Friday at 5 p.m. in Columbia. If St. Al wins, they’ll play Game 3 immediately afterward, but it’ll need a major rebound from a rough outing Tuesday.

Columbia’s first three batters reached base on nine pitches — two four-pitch walks and a hit batter — and another hit batter brought in the game’s first run. Jackson Speir hit a two-run single to make it 3-0, and the Cougars were off and running.

Columbia (21-8) scored five runs in the second inning, then 11 more in the third to finish the game early.

Speir was 3-for-4 with four RBIs, Owen Simmons and Zac McCain drove in three runs apiece, and Roman Lawrence scored four runs. The only Columbia starter who did not have a hit was leadoff man Trent Buckley, and he reached base three times and scored three runs.

St. Al’s only hit was an infield single by Barrett Shows in the second inning.

The Flashes’ best chance to score came in the bottom of the first when they had two runners on with one out. Clark Hobson hit a soft line drive that Buckley leaped to catch just behind first base, and he took two easy steps to the bag for an inning-ending double play.