Riverside pitchers held St. Aloysius to four hits Friday night and still needed a four-run seventh inning to defeat the Flashes.

Justin Ware’s three-RBI single in the top of the seventh provided the winning margin in a 13-12 season opener that few will forget, but many will want to.

Riverside (1-0) pitchers walked 18 Flashes, hit three, were called for three balks and uncorked four wild pitches and somehow found a way to win a game that lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes.

&#8220We made way, way too many mistakes to have won this game, and even if we had won it, we didn’t deserve it,” a flustered Flashes’ coach Clint Wilkerson said. &#8220We didn’t play well in any phase of the game. We didn’t get it done.”

St. Al trailed 9-7 going into the bottom of the sixth, but quickly put together a rally, of course, on the backs of more Riverside walks.

Walks to Lambert Culley and Regan Nosser and a hit batter loaded the bases. Culley scored on a wild pitch and Nosser came in on a flyout. Ryno Martin-Nez was then hit to load the bases. Blake Tidwell, who had two of the Flashes’ four hits, belted a bases-clearing double as the Flashes took a 12-9 lead.

Riverside, though, bounced right back in the seventh and strung together four hits and took advantage of two costly errors to take a 13-12 lead.

St. Aloysius was able to get runners on in the bottom of the seventh, but had one runner forced out at second and another get hung up between second and third for the second out.

Justin Ware pitched the seventh inning to earn the victory, while Jordan Muirhead took the loss. Muirhead did strike out eight.

Culley reached base every time he got up – four walks and a single – and every St. Al batter walked at least one time.

&#8220When they walk 18 guys and still win, it shows that we didn’t get it done,” Wilkerson said.

The Flashes were starting six eighth-graders and will be short-handed until the school’s basketball season ends after the playoffs. Wilkerson, though, refused to use that as an excuse.

&#8220Young, old, whatever, you’re not going to win ballgames when you make that many mistakes,” he said.