PEARL — With his full head of curly red hair, Stephen Evans’ nickname “Red” is a natural fit. Lately, his teammates have given him another moniker — “Ace-oh.”

It’s a reference to Evans’ uniform number, 10. It might as well mean, “He’s our ace, and your score is going to be oh.”

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Today, 7 p.m. – St. Aloysius vs. West Union

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Evans scattered six hits in a complete-game shutout, and also drove in a pair of runs with a single to lead St. Aloysius to a 6-0 victory over West Union in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 1A championship series Thursday afternoon at Trustmark Park.

The Flashes can win their first state title since 1976 with a victory in Game 2 tonight at 7 at Trustmark Park.

“(Evans) did great today. He’s been doing that for us all postseason,” St. Al catcher Sean Weaver said. “We’re definitely a confident team when he’s out there. He’s done it time and time again.”

The shutout was Evans’ third this season. He walked two batters, struck out six, and won for the fifth time in the playoffs to improve his record to 12-2. Evans retired 11 consecutive batters at one point and didn’t allow a runner past second base.

“I felt good. My arm felt lively. I warmed up a little longer, and I think that helped out a little bit,” Evans said. “I was hitting my spots extremely well. I got a first-pitch strike most of the day, and that was a good feeling.”

The Flashes (27-4) gave Evans enough run support thanks to a mix of aggressive baserunning and sloppy defense by West Union (18-13).

After Evans’ single put the Flashes ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning, they reloaded the bases with one out. Joseph Brown hit a grounder to the right side that West Union second baseman Will Basil scooped up and threw to first for the out.

Courtesy runner Luke Burnett scored easily on the play, but third base coach Trey Clark also waved Weaver around from second. Weaver scored without a throw to make it 4-0.

“I didn’t see the play. I saw Joseph hit the ball to the right side and I assumed it had gone through,” Weaver said. “I came back to the dugout and saw Joseph and was wondering what was going on.”

The Flashes had a runner thrown out at the plate in the fifth inning, but loaded the bases again with two outs. Regan Nosser, who was on third base, wandered far enough down the line to coax a pickoff throw from West Union catcher Caleb English.

The throw sailed high and into left field, and Nosser scrambled toward home plate. Pierson Waring, who had been on second base, saw the throw going high and immediately broke for third — and then rounded the bag and headed for home. He also scored easily, just a few steps behind Nosser, to make it 6-0.

“It’s just what we do. We’re aggressive and we try to create chaos,” St. Al coach Clint Wilkerson said. “We got a guy thrown out at the plate, but I think that created runs for us. We got their catcher to make that throw and it turned into a couple runs.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com