Game 1 got away from St. Aloysius in a hurry.

Reed Duncan hit a grand slam, and Columbia Academy scored four runs in the third inning and five more in the fourth to sprint to a 12-2 victory over St. Al in Game 1 of their second-round MAIS Class 5A baseball playoff series on Tuesday.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Thursday at 5 p.m. at Bazinsky Field in Vicksburg. If Game 3 is needed it will be played immediately afterward.

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In the first round of the playoffs, St. Al (17-13) dropped Game 1 to Silliman before rallying to win Games 2 and 3 in a doubleheader. It did the same in the regular season to beat Cathedral and win the District 4-5A championship.

Game 1 was tied 1-1 through two innings and then Columbia Academy (25-8) turned on the jets.

Columbia scored two runs on an overthrow of third on a stolen base attempt and a steal of home. Another came across the plate on fielder’s choice on a bunt, and one more on a sacrifice fly as the Cougars went ahead 5-1. Its only hit in the inning was a bunt single.

In the fourth inning an error, walk and hit batter led to an RBI single by Roman Lawrence. Duncan followed with his grand slam over the left field fence to make it 10-1.

Logan Buckley and Owen Simmons each hit RBI singles in the fifth inning to finish the game via the 10-run mercy rule.

St. Al only had four hits — singles by Carson Smith, Walt Andrews, Sadler Lambiotte and Will Roberson. Andrews and Lambiotte each scored one run, and Roberson had an RBI single in the fifth inning.

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