Owatonna unable to complete comeback against Albert Lea

Generating momentum after a recording wins over Rochester John Marshall and Eden Prairie, the Owatonna High School baseball team was looking to make it three in a row against Albert Lea.
The Huskies managed to fight back to make it a two-run ballgame after trailing 5-0.
They just simply ran out of at-bats.
Owatonna senior Kodey Kiel struck out in the bottom of the seventh inning, ending the Huskies chance at a walk-off win as Albert Lea escaped with a 6-4 win Tuesday at Darrts Park in Owatonna.
“I thought they fought hard and obviously, a few things didn’t go our way. But, it didn’t kill us,” commented Huskies head coach Tate Cummings. “I thought they did a nice job but unfortunately we didn’t get enough to go our way.”
After surrendering one hit in the top of the first inning, Huskies’ starting pitcher Brady Schuster made quick work of the Tigers’ lineup, allowing just one hit in the second inning before junior Abe Havelka ended the inning with a double play. In the third inning, the Tigers started to get a beat on Schuster, registering back-to-back hits to move runners to second and third.
Registering the RBI on Albert Lea’s first run of the game, senior Cody Ball ripped a hard line drive to centerfield to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead. It was a scoring play that quite possibly may have never happened as it appeared left fielder Nolan Malo may the catch before attempting to throw out the runner. Only it wasn’t ruled that way.
Just one at-bat later, Ben Witham’s RBI single bumped the lead to 4-0. Owatonna would get out of the inning with a double play from shortstop Noah Budach and Nate first baseman Nate Deason. The Tigers would add another run in the top of the fourth to build a commanding 5-0 lead before Abe Havelka enter in relief for Schuster. The junior pitched 3 1/3 innings and recorded a pair of strikeouts.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Huskies managed to get the field to tilt back into their favor.
Tucker Alstead single to deep center seem to pump some life into the Owatonna bats as Noah Budach and Schuster followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases for Havelka. Facing a full count, the junior reliever watched as ball four was just outside, bringing home Alstead. A pair of fielder’s choice from Ben Staska and Deason would cut the Huskies’ deficit to 5-3. Cummings noted that he thought the Huskies could have had a chance to tie the game during the three-run inning.
“I thought we were going to have a bigger inning,” he added. “Obviously it was important to get that lead-off hit and we got it. We had that baby going it just fell a little short.”
Alstead would crush the ball into the gap in right-center field in the bottom of the fifth to score Spencer Glynn, but would remain stranded on second base to end the inning. The junior catcher went 2-for-3 with the RBI.
After the three-run inning, Havelka went to work on the mound, making quick work of the Tigers, allowing one hit in the next seven batters he faced. In fact, in 3 2/3 innings of work, Havelka allowed one run on two hits.
Owatonna will be back in action Thursday when they face Mankato West. 

Box Score
ALH  1 0 3 1 0 0 1      6 8 0
OHS  0 0 0 3 1 0 0     4 5 2
LP: Schuster. 
Owatonna batting statistics: 
Kiel 0-4, Alstead 2-3 (RBI), Budach 1-3, Schuster 1-3, Havelka 0-2 (RBI), Staska 0-2 (RBI), Deason 0-3 (RBI), Malo 0-3, Leer 0-2.