EDEN PRAIRIE — It’s called home field advantage for a reason, and Friday night Eden Prairie showed Albert Lea why. The home squad jumped all over Albert Lea American Legion Post 56, drawing the final score of 13-1.

Haaland started the game as pitcher for the Tigers but only lasted 1 1/3 innings before being pulled from the mound. He gave up 7 runs on 7 hits early in the game.

“Cody has to pitch better than that if we’re going to go on in the tournament,” Jack Kortan said. “They are a good hitting team one through nine.”

It was a tough game for the Tigers as they faced off against the top-ranked team in the state. Eden Prairie also won last year’s state tournament and ended last season as the runner-up team at the American Legion World Series.

The Tigers looked competitive early on in the game. Abben drew the game’s opening walk and then stole second. Klatt connected on a single to the outfield. Abben ignored the stop sign at third and was able to slide past the catcher to score the games opening run.

Haaland put the first batter of the bottom of the first inning on base after hitting David Belusky with a pitch. He earned a fly ball out, before giving up four straight hits.

Tony Skjefte sent a single past Woodside at third base. Eden Prairie’s Adam Bray connected on a two RBI single; his at-bat followed two straight RBI singles by his fellow teammates. Haaland stopped the bleeding after that by retiring the next two batters.

Albert Lea couldn’t muster any runs in the second or third inning, but they looked like they had a chance to close the 10-1 gap in the top of the first. Cole Sorenson started the Tigers off with a lead-off double, and Woodside helped him advance to third on an infield single. Makael Lunning stepped to the plate but flew out to center field ending the inning.

Eden Prairie added three runs in the second, third and fourth innings capped off by first baseman Tyler Peterson’s 385-foot home run over the right field fence off of See-Rockers, who started the game in left field, in the fourth inning.

In the top of the fifth inning, a creative use of the Albert Lea bench had allowed for the Tigers to have a runner in scoring position and another on first base with only one out. However, Houston Sharpe and Wyeth Anderson both flew out to center field to end the inning.

Defensively, the Tigers showed some prowess in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Eden Prairie’s Lance Thonvold hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning, signifying the first inning Albert Lea held the home team scoreless.

Anderson showed some promise on the mound for the Tigers. He pitched the final two innings without allowing a run and striking out two batters.

“Wyeth kept them off balance and kept them hitting ground balls,” Kortan said.

Albert Lea will be one loss away from elimination, when they play Hopkins on Saturday at field No. 2 at Eden Prairie High School at 10 a.m. Kortan said he plans to send Cole Sorenson to the mound to face the opponent.

“They’ve got to bounce back,” Kortan said. “We’ll hope Cole has a good game and we’ll come ready to play.”

Eden Prairie 13, Albert Lea 1
Albert Lea 100 000 0   1 5 1
Eden Prairie 433 300 X  13 16 1
WP- Ruemmele 4IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 4SO
LP- Haaland 1.1IP, 7H, 7R, 5ER
Albert Lea Batting
Abben 1-3, BB, SO; Kortan 1-2, SO; Lokken 1-1, BB; Klatt 1-2, RBI; Sharpe 0-2; Sorenson1-2, SO; Anderson 0-1; Haaland 0-2; Enderson 0-1, SO; Bellrichard 0-3, 2 SO; Woodside 1-3, 2SO; Lunning 0-2, BB, SO; See-Rockers 0-2.