ROCHESTER &8212; Rochester John Marshall is the defending section champion and entered Friday&8217;s Section 1AAA opener against Albert Lea having beaten the Tigers twice this season.

Albert Lea showed none of that mattered pushing the Rockets for seven innings before coming up just short, 3-2.

&8220;We played well enough to win, but we didn&8217;t get the big hit when we really needed it,&8221; Albert Lea head coach Joe Sczublewski said.

The Tigers grabbed a 2-0 lead after one inning before JM grabbed the 3-2 lead by the third. However, the Tigers had runners in scoring position in the third, fourth and fifth innings and could not push anything across.

Jared Matson hit a bullet towards second base with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, but the Rocket defender caught the ball and touched the base for a double play. Albert Lea also had a runner thrown out at the plate in the fifth.

Joel Eisenbraun threw an impressive complete game for the Tigers striking out two and walking just one while scattering seven hits.

Albert Lea out hit the Rockets nine to seven in the game getting three hits from Casey Woodside and two each from Matt Friedman and Matson.

Logan Kortan did make several strong plays at second base for the Tigers as he filled in for Friedman who injured himself sliding into home scoring the second of the team&8217;s two runs when Matson roped a double to the fence.

The Tigers played Faribault Saturday as they looked to keep their season alive.