It’s a phrase R.A. Long baseball coach Mark Hulings has used often this season, probably more than he’d like: “Flush it.”

When your Greater St. Helens 2A League title challenge flops early on, look to the postseason.

Lose by mercy rule in the opening round of the Southwest 2A District Tournament?

Hey, there’s always the consolation bracket.

If you surrender what had once been a 4-0 lead with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, come out swinging in the seventh.

Barely a day after falling to Centralia 12-1 on the back of double-digit errors, the Lumberjacks rebounded to upset regular-season GSHL 2A champion Hockinson and keep their season alive with a dramatic 7-5 victory Wednesday on Wheeler Field at Fort Borst Park.

“We flushed it,” Coach Hulings said. “I just told the kids, ‘We have to be loose, be aggressive.’ I don’t think our kids had to get up, playing Hockinson.”

RAL faces Tumwater in another loser-out game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at W.F. West.

But not before the Jacks savor this one for a while, judging by the celebratory whoops coming from the postgame huddle.

A group that saw similar preseason visions of playoff glory end without a single district playoff victory on the football field and basketball court — most of those losses in agonizing fashion – could finally let it all out.

“I wasn’t thinking about previous sports seasons,” RAL senior Brady Hulings said. “I was thinking about previous baseball seasons, what we’d done here. I knew that anything could happen.”

R.A. Long stormed in front early with a four-run top of the second.

Morgan Baker kicked things off with a double to center field, Tanner Ruffe drove in a pair of runs with an opposite-field single and Spencer Thorsen another with an infield single.

Hockinson slowly chipped away. A throwing error kept its second inning alive to produce a pair of runs.

Mitch Lines pulled the Hawks within a run with a third-inning single, but the Jacks restored that cushion when Jose Hinojosa scored ahead of a tag that would have clinched a rare 6-4-3-2 triple play in the sixth.

In the bottom half of that frame, the would-be second out turned into a runner on second when Thorsen pulled his strong throw across the diamond just over Steve Smith’s head at first.

Three batters later, Taylor Ellensohn tied the game at 5-5 with his fourth hit of the game.

“We were able to flush that play with (Thorsen) over here at first base,” Hulings said. “That allowed our energy to continue. They tied it up, but we didn’t push the panic button.”

That trademark short memory came in handy a few minutes later.

After Hunter Jones’ leadoff single, Brady Hulings pushed his first sacrifice bunt attempt wide of the first-base line then watched the second strike go right by.

“So then I just went for it,” Brady said.

He deposited the 0-2 pitch off the left-field wall to plate Jones with the go-ahead run.

Baker later scored Hulings with an infield single to make it 7-5. Tanner Ruffe relieved Hinojosa — who was resilient if not overpowering in 6 1/3 innings — with two on and one out in the bottom of the seventh.

Ruffe, who had only made it into the third inning of that opening-round loss, watched Greg Lord lift a pitch ominously to the warning track for the second out.

A deep breath and three sliders later, the Jacks, finally, were moving on.