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The Albert Lea baseball team went into Thursday night’s matchup against Red Wing with hopes of extending their active winning streak to five straight games. 

Despite falling behind early, the Tigers rallied with a six-run fourth inning to take command of the game, winning 8-4.

Neither team was able to score in the first inning, as the Tigers left two runners on base. Seniors Trevor Ball and Blake Ulve reached base, but did not make it around to home.

The Wingers opened the second inning with back-to-back hits, the second of which scored one run. Another run came in two at-bats later on a sacrifice fly.

The Tigers had a promising start in the bottom half of the inning as junior Cam Davis reached on a double and was followed by a walk from senior Cody Yokiel. However, three straight outs ended the inning before either could score.

Red Wing responded by loading up the bases in the top of the third inning, but the Albert Lea defense held strong, allowing none of those runners to score.

Trevor Ball opened up the bottom half of the third with a single, but again, three straight outs ended the inning, leaving the Tigers scoreless.

After allowing no runs by the Wingers in the fourth, the Tigers finally found their offense in the bottom portion of the inning.

The Tigers quickly loaded the bases with a single from Davis and senior Ethan Ball, as well as a walk from Yokiel to start the inning. It looked like the Tigers would leave the bases loaded when back-to-back strikeouts put two outs on the board, but a walk from Trevor Ball in the next at-bat scored one. Senior Jack Jellinger stepped up to the plate in the next at-bat and drove in three runs with a double to left field. Ulve walked, followed by senior Caden Jensen hitting a two-run double to make the score 6-2.

The Tigers defense went one-two-three in the top of the fifth before the offense scored two more runs in the bottom half of the inning. Ethan Ball walked and junior Henry Eggum advanced him with a single hit to the shortstop. Trevor Ball then walked to load the bases once again before Jellinger walked to score a run and a dropped third strike scored another.

The Albert Lea defense again held strong in the sixth inning and went into the seventh with a six-run lead. The Wingers grabbed two more runs in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to form any sort of a comeback.

Carter Miller started on the mound for the Tigers, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing two runs on eight hit, while recording four strikeouts and zero walks. Jensen came in for relief in the seventh inning and allowed two runs on three hits, while striking out one and allowing zero walks.

Three Tigers recorded multiple hits in the game, as Trevor Ball, Jellinger and Davis each had two hits.

Albert Lea scored eight runs on nine hits and recorded zero errors. Red Wing scored four runs on 11 hits and recorded one error.

The Tigers now move to 5-3 on the season and will play again Tuesday when they take on the Cougars of Mankato East.