With the district tournament fast approaching, Albert Lea American Legion baseball coach Matt Trygstad was hoping for a win in Tuesday night’s doubleheader against the Rochester Patriots.

The wins remained elusive, but Post 56 showed some improvement in falling 16-5 and 9-5 at Hayek Field.

“We played a lot better,” said Trygstad. “Our defense was a lot more sound.”

But the pitchers had trouble containing the Patriots, who totaled 29 hits for the night.

Rochester outhit Post 56 20-7 in the opener.

Nate Loberg was 2-for-4 with a double to lead Albert Lea. David Heijerman also doubled. Derek Goodnature, Isaiah Parry and Luke Stevens each had one hit.

Stevens took the loss, starting and pitching the first 4 1/3 innings. He gave up eight runs on 10 hits, with three walks and two strikeouts. All of the runs were earned. Josh Diaz and Joel Hestness pitched in relief.

Game two was tight until Rochester opened it up wth three runs in the bottom of the sixth. The visitors outhit Post 56 9-5.

Goodnature was 2-for-2 with two walks and a run scored, Heijerman 2-for-4 with a run, Loberg 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs. Matt Bracker had Albert Lea’s other hit.

Loberg started on the mound and went 5 1/3 innings, allowing nine runs on eight hits. He walked six and fanned two. Six runs were earned. Bracker pitched the final 2/3 of an inning.

“It was a pretty good start for Loberg because he hasn’t pitched more than one inning the last five or six years,” said Trygstad.

“It was nice to see our defense getting better,” added Trygstad. “In the second game our errors were all in one inning.”

The losses dropped Post 56’s record to 3-20. The team is home again tonight, taking on Austin at 7 p.m. at Hayek Field. The Rochester Redhawks come to town Thursday for a 7 p.m. game.

Rochester 16, Post 56 5

Rochester

300

331

6 – 16

20

1

Albert Lea

101

110

1 –

5

7

1

LP – Luke Stevens

Rochester 9, Post 56 5

Albert Lea

011

201

0 – 5

5

3

Rochester

111

213

x – 9

9

0

LP – Nate Loberg