ALBERT LEA— Just because the Fourth of July is over doesn’t mean the fire works have to stop.

In fact, when Owatonna and Albert Lea get together on the baseball diamond , fire works usually occur.

Tuesday night was no different.

Aaron Klatt scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead the Albert Lea Legion baseball team to a 4-3 victory over Owatonna at Hayek Field.

“Big win,” Albert Lea Legion baseball coach Jack Kortan said. “As far as seedings go. Districts start in about two weeks. We were tied with them heading in and now we virtually have a two game lead over them having beaten them twice this year.”

Albert Lea jumped out to quick lead in the bottom of the first thanks to Aaron Klatt.

Klatt jumped on a pitch from Owatonna pitcher Sam Zappa that he hit over the left field wall to give Albert Lea a 1-0 lead.

“Aaron Klatt has been hitting,” Kortan said. “Thats his fourth home run of the year. He’s been hitting the ball hard.”

The score would stay 1-0 until Owatonna got to Albert Lea starting pitcher Jon Mittag in the sixth inning.

Tyler Smith and Mike Sebring had RBI singles and Sam Zappa scored on a error to give Owatonna a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom half of the inning, Albert Lea responded thanks to Colby Strilaeff.

Strilaeff drilled a pitch from Owatonna pitcher Tyler Smith over the right field wall for a two-run home run to tie the game at 3 a piece.

“I told Colby afterwards thats what leaders do,” Kortan said. “We were kind of down heading into the bottom of the inning because they just scored three runs. But when Colby hit that two run shot, you could tell the fire was still there.”

Both teams came up empty in the seventh inning to force the game into extras.

It was in the bottom of the eighth with bases loaded when Owatonna pitcher Mike Sebring threw a wild pitch that scored Aaron Klatt that allowed Albert Lea to escape with a 4-3 win.

Both teams had opportunities to score the winning run in the late innings.

Albert Lea had bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh with one out before Jordan Mondeel lined into a double play to end the inning.

In the eighth inning, Derek Schwab doubled to put Sam Zappa on third before Jordan Cooper got Neil Eddie to ground out to end the threat.

“I don’t know how many guys we left on base,” Kortan said. “It was a lot, we had bases loaded twice. But offensively, I thought we did well.”

Jordan Cooper earned the win for Albert Lea.

Cooper went 2 2/3 innings and allowed only one hit, while he struck out three.

While Cooper shut down Owatonna for the win, starting pitcher Jon Mittag also threw the ball well for Albert Lea.

Mittag went the first 5 1/3 innings before running into trouble in the sixth.

“Mittag worked quick, threw strikes and made some quality pitches,” Kortan said. “He pitched good tonight. I was really impressed with his pitching.”

With the win, the Albert Lea Legion baseball team is off until Monday, when they travel to Waseca.

Albert Lea 4, Owatonna 3 F/8

Owatonna 000 003 00 — 3 6 1

Albert Lea 100 002 01 — 4 8 2

WP— Jordan Cooper – 2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K

LP — Tyler Smith – 1 1/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K