For fans following the St. Aloysius Flashes this postseason, here’s a tip: Don’t worry about getting to the game early. All of the good stuff happens at the end.

The Flashes scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning Friday to beat Ethel 4-1 and finish a two-game sweep of their Class 1A play-in round series.

It was the fourth time in seven games that St. Al has won by scoring in the sixth inning or later. It’s also lost a game that way.

“We realize that when you don’t quit, it’s starting to pay off. Once we’re down, we know we’re never out. We see it actually happen, where we tie it up and take the lead, and we know we can get it,” said St. Al infielder Lee Simpson, who had two hits Friday. “Now, when we get down a little bit, there’s no quit in this team. Let’s scratch a couple of runs and maybe we’ll get a big inning out of it.”

St. Al advanced to face Stringer in a first-round series next week. Game 1 is Tuesday night at Stringer.

If the last two weeks are any indication, the Flashes will be a tough out for the Division 8-1A champions.

Eight of St. Al’s nine starters had a hit Friday night. The last three batters in the order — George Tzotzolas, Josh Brown and Landon Middleton — reached base a combined five times in nine plate appearances.

Tzotzolas had a two-run single in the sixth inning to give St. Al the lead, and Brown allowed one hit in four innings of shutout relief.

“Our seven, eight and nine hole batters were 5-for-9 as far as getting on base. You get that from the bottom of your lineup and you’re in great shape,” St. Al coach Steve Hancock said. “We’re not relying on one guy. With us, it’s a little bit of a flood that happens to you. We’ve got a little bit of cardiac in us.”

Ethel scratched a run in the third inning on an RBI single by Trey Tollison, and took that 1-0 lead into the sixth.

St. Al had stolen Game 1 of the series by scoring seven times in the seventh inning, and mounted a similar comeback in the clincher.

The Flashes loaded the bases with one out as Lee Simpson came to the plate. The left-hander hit a grounder that Ethel’s Tollison dove for to prevent a base hit, but his rushed toss to pitcher Tyson Steen was wild.

Will Pierce hustled home with the tying run, then Tzotzolas gave the Flashes the lead with his two-run single to right field.

A bases-loaded walk tacked on another run to pad the lead.

“We made some big-time plays to keep us in the ballgame today,” Hancock said before rattling off a half-dozen defensive gems that kept the game close. “As far as coming back, hey, I’ll take it. This is a game of momentum swings. We’re a team that can score runs pretty quickly, so I never feel like we’re out of a ballgame.”