Donald Graves got down and dirty with the Owatonna batters.

His teammates fielded everything cleanly.

Graves, keeping his pitches low in the strike zone, allowed only three balls out of the infield and the Albert Lea VFW baseball team played errorless defense while defeating Owatonna 5-1 at Hayek Field Tuesday evening.

It was the third win in a row for Post 447, which improved to 4-2 in the Western Division and 7-7 overall.

Graves, a left-hander, went the distance on the mound, giving up four hits and one walk, with two strikeouts. Owatonna scored on a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh.

&uot;Donald was in complete control,&uot; said Albert Lea coach Matt Trygstad. &uot;He was really spotting his pitches well, keeping them low, and our defense was great.&uot;

The offense was great in the first, when Post 447 scored all five of its runs.

Graves led off with a double, took third on a passed ball and scored on a single by Travis Klatt. Brandon Klukow singled and Jared Butler hit a two-run double. A single by Brock Sorenson put runners at the corners and prompted a pitching change.

After a strikeout, Pete Bracker scored Butler with a sacrifice fly. Preston Dahl added a run-scoring single.

The other Albert Lea hit was by Alex Paul.

&uot;We came out and hit the ball well in the first to give Donald a nice cushion,&uot; said Trygstad. &uot;He took it home from there.&uot;

Post 447 hosts the Rochester Rockets in an 11 a.m. doubleheader at Hayek Field Saturday. The team plays a doubleheader at Faribault on Sunday.

Albert Lea 5, Owatonna 1

OW

000

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1 &045; 1

4

1

AL

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x &045; 5

7

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WP &045; Donald Graves