The Albert Lea baseball team entered Thursday with a rare opportunity to sweep all three Rochester schools in a five-day span, but the Tigers weren’t able hold off John Marshall.

The Rockets used a two-out rally in the sixth inning to come from behind to beat Albert Lea 4-2 at Hayek Field.

The chances were there for Albert Lea, taking advantage of them was the difficult part.

The Tigers (7-3, 6-3 Big Nine) struck in the first inning for one run when Jordan Mondeel crossed the plate on a throwing error. Albert Lea had a chance to add more with the bases loaded and one away, but took a called third strike and grounded out to end the inning.

The Tigers added another run in the second inning when Carter Kortan scored on a Luke Grossman single with one away. Grossman got as far as third base and was stranded.

Rockets starter Brian Anderson settled in on the mound and faced one over the minimum through the fifth inning and struck out three Albert Lea hitters on called third strikes.

The Nos. 3 through 5 hitters had a rough day for the Tigers, finishing 1-for-8 with one single and a sacrifice, while striking out four times looking.

John Marshall meanwhile pounded the ball against the Tigers, tallying 12 hits.

“They found the holes with their swings and tonight we just left too many third ones go with the bat on our shoulder,” Albert Lea head coach Joe Sczublewski said. “We had our shot there early, we just didn’t put enough on the board.”

Logan Kortan held the Rockets (9-1, 7-1 Big Nine) at bay until the fifth inning. John Marshall started a two-out rally with two outs and took the lead 3-2 on back-to-back RBI singles from Andrew Nelson and Matt Miller.

In the top of the seventh Derek Hovick connected on a booming solo homer to left field to make the game 4-3.

A win would have extended Albert Lea’s winning streak to four games and given the Tigers a sweep against the Rochester schools.

“We played three good games this week and came out on the short end of this one,” Sczublewski said. “Hopefully we can get them over at their place.”

The outcome could have been worse if not for a pair of deft defensive plays by Albert Lea.

In the sixth inning the Rockets threatened with a runner on second. Joe Moen hit a single to center field and Tigers’ center fielder Cole Sorenson came up throwing on the play with Eric Williams trying to score. Sorenson’s throw hit catcher Luke Grossman on the fly and Grossman tagged Williams out as Williams tried to plow him over.

Then in the seventh inning, with runners on the corners, the Rockets tried to steal second base and score the runner at third. Kortan caught Alex Peterson off the bag at first, but turned toward home to fire a strike to Grossman, who made the play to tag out Miller.

The Tigers face another test Tuesday when they face the undefeated Scarlets in a doubleheader at Hayek Field.

John Marshall 4, Albert Lea 2

John Marshall 010 020 1 — 4 12 1

Albert Lea 110 000 0 —  2 5 1

WP — Brian Anderson 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K

LP — Logan Kortan 7 IP, 12 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K