WASECA – On the road, the Albert Lea Colonels have not been on their game.

Wednesday, July 14, 1999

WASECA – On the road, the Albert Lea Colonels have not been on their game. Especially against Southern Minny League opponents.

Albert Lea’s amateur baseball team fell to 0-5 in league play with a 13-3 loss at Waseca Wednesday, a night after beating Pine Island 10-5 in a nonleague contest at Hayek Field.

The bottom line at Waseca was errors and key hits. The Colonels had too many of one, not enough of the other.

&uot;We got enough hits,&uot; said manager Bill Trygstad. &uot;We left 12 runners on base. But we just didn’t get the key hit when we needed it and we didn’t play a very sound game. Defensively, we had been playing very well. But this one kind of got away from us.&uot;

Two of the most pivotal innings were the second and fourth, when the Colonels left the bases full both times.

&uot;A key hit could have kept us in it,&uot; said Trygstad.

Four players had two hits apiece to lead a 12-hit attack. Brett Damerow was 2-for-4, both doubles. Chad Damerow went 2-for-4, Ryan Wangen and Brady Berg 2-for-4. Lon Sorenson, Matt Trygstad and Adam Benson had one hit each.

Ryan Hanson pitched the first 3 1/3 innings and took the loss. Benson went four innings on the mound before Waseca ended it in the eighth by the 10-run rule.

The Colonels collected 15 hits against Pine Island, rallying from a 5-1 deficit in the fourth. Albert Lea battled back with one run in the sixth, tying it with three in the seventh and putting it away with a five-run eighth.

Brett Damerow had three doubles and four RBIs while going 3-for-4. Sorenson was 3-for-4 with a double and one RBI. Wangen went 2-for-5 with four RBIs, including a three-run home run in the eighth. Benson was 2-for-3 with a triple, two walks and four runs scored. Dan Lee was 2-for-5. Matt Trygstad, Berg and Luke Hammer contributed one hit apiece.

Mike Piechowski started on the mound and went four innings. Ryan Long went the next four innings and got the win. Hanson threw the final inning.

&uot;We got off to a slow start, but we had 15 hits and seven of them were for extra bases,&uot; said Bill Trygstad. &uot;We hit the ball pretty well and our pitching wasn’t too bad.&uot;

The Colonels, 3-7 overall, host Rochester at 7:30 tonight in a league game at Hayek Field.