Neither the score nor the opponent matter much to St. Aloysius baseball coach Clint Wilkerson. Getting to play a baseball game under a hot sun, did.

Wilkerson put his young Flashes on Bazinsky Field against the Vicksburg Gators Friday afternoon.

The Gators, despite fielding just two regular players from the past spring, whipped the Flashes 13-5 behind 10 hits and four St. Al errors.

The errors bothered Wilkerson, but he was quick to point out that’s why he has his team playing against a program like Vicksburg.

“We have a lot of young players and they’re going to make mistakes,” Wilkerson said. “We made too many errors in this game. But we haven’t faced any live pitching in nearly two months.

“This is our first game and the main thing I want to see is for us to compete. Like I said, we have a very young team and I made sure I got all of my younger kids in the game. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing.

“I know a team like Vicksburg is going to have more depth than we have, especially pitching wise. But what I want is for our kids to be put in situations where they have to fight their way through adversity.”

The adversity against the Gators came via four errors, including three in the outfield. The Gators also made use of four walks issued by Flashes’ starter Joseph Brown.

“We hit the ball better tonight than we did last night at Madison Central,” said Gators coach Mike George, who is running the summer program for regular VHS coach Jamie Creel. “Madison Central whipped us twice in a double-header last night. Our main thing for the summer is to get these young boys some playing experience.”

George was glad to get a game against his alma mater in St. Al.

“This was interesting to me because I graduated from St. Al. It was great to see us get between the lines,” he said.

Vicksburg led 8-0 after three innings. The Flashes rebounded with four runs in the bottom half of the third and one in the fourth to make it 8-5. The Gators came back with five in the top of the fifth to finish off the 13-5 decision.

Blake Hynum led the Gators with two hits, two runs and three RBIs. Eric Coleman had two hits and knocked in two runs, while Ryan Ferrington had two hits, including a triple. Bowen Woodson had a two-run single to cap a four-run third.

St. Al was led by Blake Tidwell with two hits and two RBIs. Marsh Willis drove in two runs off a third inning single and Chip Donald had a double and a single.