Craig Smith was two outs away from a no-hitter, but he didn’t hesitate to hand over the baseball.

The win was more important.

Smith pitched 8-1/3 innings of hitless ball before giving way to Jeff Schulz, who finished off the no-hitter as the Albert Lea Colonels defeated the Austin Merchants 3-2 in a nonleague game at Hayek Field Sunday night.

&uot;You don’t like to take a guy out with a no-hitter, but he knew he was done and had no problem coming out,&uot; said Colonels manager Bill Trygstad. &uot;He had run a 5K the day before and we didn’t know how long he could go. He said his legs were shot. He walked the previous guy on four pitches &045; all high &045; and their No. 4 batter was coming up.&uot;

Smith still got the win, his first of the season after picking up a save. He struck out 14 and walked six. Schulz retired both batters he faced for his second save of the year. Only one of Austin’s runs was earned.

&uot;Our pitchers were pretty much dominant except for a few walks we gave them,&uot; said Trygstad. &uot;Craig was outstanding.&uot;

Ryan Wangen had two hits, one of them a double, and drove in a run for the Colonels. Mick Westeng also had two hits. Justin Kohn tripled, James Gonzalez doubled. Brett Damerow and Brandon Tukua also hit safely.

The win came on the heels of a 9-3 Southern Minny League loss to New Ulm Kaiserhoff on Friday. Both teams had eight hits but the Colonels hurt themselves with five errors that led to five unearned runs.

It was 3-3 until the seventh, when New Ulm scored six runs on four hits, two errors, a walk and a hit batsman.

&uot;New Ulm has a good team &045; they have some real good hitters &045; but we kind of gave it away in the seventh,&uot; said Trygstad.

David Dahl, Matt Trygstad and Wangen registered two hits apiece. Gonzalez and Tukua had the Colonels’ other hits.

Adam Berge, who pitched well but took a tough loss in his first start of the season, went six innings and took the loss. Mike Piechowski pitched the final three innings in relief. They combined for seven strikeouts and five walks.

&uot;The guys bounced back (Sunday night), which was nice,&uot; said Bill Trygstad. &uot;We always like to beat Austin.&uot;

The Colonels, 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the Southern Minny League, have three games this week. They host the Rochester Blues Wednesday, play at Northfield Friday and return to league action Sunday at home against Owatonna.

New Ulm Kaiserhoff 9, Colonels 3

Albert Lea

003 000 000 – 3

8

5

New Ulm

101 001 60x – 9

8

2

LP – Adam Berge (0-2)

Colonels 3, Austin Merchants 2

Austin

000 110 000 – 2

0

1

Albert Lea

001 010 01x – 3

8

1

WP – Craig Smith (1-0)