The runs had been tough to come by for the Rochester Patriots until Tuesday night against the Albert Lea American Legion baseball team.

The Tigers ran into a Patriots team that had been offensively challenged over the past four games and Rochester unloaded all of its angst at the plate in a 18-4 and 20-1 thumping of Albert Lea in a doubleheader at Hayek Field in Albert Lea.

The No. 4-ranked American Legion ball club in the state, whose players played on the John Marshall team that had just returned from an appearance in the state high school league tournament, unleashed its frustration by knocking out 31 hits and 38 runs.

In the state tournament Rochester lost its two games, scoring three runs combined and squeaked out a 4-3 win over the Rochester Redhawks Monday, but against Albert Lea all of the offensive woes didn’t matter.

The Patriots sprayed balls all over the field and second baseman Joe Moen added a three-run blast in the first inning of the second game to push his team out of its funk.

“They hit the ball,” Tigers head coach Boyd Eisenbraun said. “But then we made some errors and we kind of got down and we just didn’t come back.”

The Tigers didn’t help matters as they walked 24, and faced a team of well-disciplined hitters.

“They’ve got a really good eye,” catcher Casey Woodside said. “They’ve been taught well to keep their hands back and not fall for the curveballs.”

After playing Sunday in Winona in a doubleheader Albert Lea’s thin rotation was exposed against the Patriots.

“We’re struggling pitching,” Eisenbraun said. “We pitched two games Sunday and we just don’t have the pitching.”

Albert Lea was able to score runs in the first game with Anthony Tippett and Casey Woodside leading the way.

Tippett scored twice in the first game with Woodside driving in two runs. Tippett went 3-for-5 with three runs scored on the evening and Woodside finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs on the night.

But the bats couldn’t sustain any attack on offense.

“They threw strikes, they threw hard and we just couldn’t hit the ball,” Eisenbraun said.

Woodside said the team needs to take some time and work on hitting with some batting practice.

“Everyone just needs to take some batting practice and we should be ready to go by the next game,” he said.

Game 1

Rochester 18, Albert Lea 4

Rochester – 0410 30x x – 18 16 0

Albert Lea – 011 02x x – 4 6 4

LP – Anthony Tippett 2 2/3 IP, 10 H, 14 R, 13 ER, 5 BB

Game 2

Rochester 20, Albert Lea 1

Rochester – 319 70x x – 20 15 0

Albert Lea – 100 00x x – 1 3 2

LP – Joel Eisenbraun 2 2/3 IP, 7 H, 13 R, 11 ER, 6 BB, 1 K