Matt Trygstad, the coach of Albert Lea’s VFW baseball squad, wasn’t sure exactly how many times he’s faced a team coached by Waseca’s Tink Larson.

But he was sure about one thing. He had never beaten a Larson-coached team.

That changed Wednesday evening.

The Albert Lea VFW team sent their Waseca opponents home early, winning 10-0 in five innings at Hayek Field in a game shortened by the 10-run rule.

Trygstad, who figures he’s faced Larson four or five times, admitted it was special to finally beat one of his teams.

&uot;It’s fun to get that first win against a guy like Tink, with the reputation he has,&uot; said Trygstad.

Brandon Klukow held the Waseca bats in check, allowing only two hits and two walks while striking out eight batters.

Albert Lea took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a two-out single by Ryan Truesdell and a double Jared Butler.

The locals made it 4-0 in the fourth, when Klukow and Peter Bracker singled with one out and, an out later, Butler delivered an RBI single. After a double steal, Donald Graves knocked in two runs with a base hit.

Albert Lea ended it with a six-run sixth. Casey Ciffra and Nate Goodnature singled, and both scored on a long sacrifice fly by Klukow. Bracker tripled, followed by run-scoring hits from Truesdell, Butler, Graves and Jerrod Stadheim.

Albert Lea 10, Waseca 0

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WP – Brandon Klukow