OWATONNA &045; The Owatonna Aces defeated the Faribault Lakers, who beat the Waseca Braves, who handed the Rochester Royals their first Southern Minny League baseball loss in several years.

So where does that leave the Albert Lea Colonels, who won 5-3 at Owatonna Saturday night?

With hopes they can beat anybody on any given night.

&uot;That’s kind of the way it looks like it’s going to be this year,&uot; said manager Bill Trygstad. &uot;It depends on who’s pitching and who’s hitting.&uot;

The Colonels had just enough of both at Owatonna, where left-hander Isaac Walton turned in a gutsy complete-game effort and Albert Lea, which had struggled offensively in recent games, outhit the Aces 7-6. Both teams had one error.

&uot;We got a few more hits than we have been &045; just enough to win,&uot; said Trygstad. &uot;Isaac pitched another strong game for us, and our defense was strong again.&uot;

The Colonels took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, when Matt Trygstad singled and eventually scored on a ground out by Justin Kohn.

After Owatonna tied it in the second, Kohn singled and scored in the fourth to make it 2-1.

Derek Goodnature got his first hit as a Colonel &045; a line drive double &045; and scored on a single by James Gonzalez to put Albert Lea up 3-1 in the seventh. Owatonna answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh.

The Colonels got two more in the ninth. Matt Trygstad was hit by a pitch and Aric Attig singled, advancing pinch-runner Ryan Wiechmann to third. Attig stole second and the throw from the catcher was off the mark, scoring Wiechmann. Attig, who reached third on the play, scored on a wild pitch.

Walton got a ground out to open the bottom of the ninth before yielding a 10-pitch walk. He fanned the leadoff batter for the second out, but the Aces’ No. 2 and 3 hitters delivered back-to-back singles up the middle to score a run. Owatonna’s cleanup hitter lined out to left for the final out.

Walton, who improved his record to 2-2, finished with 10 strikeouts and six walks, giving up three earned runs on six hits.

Attig was 2-for-4. Matt Trygstad reached base four times. Goodnature, Gonzalez, Brett Damerow and Kohn each had one hit.

The Colonels, 2-5 in the league and 2-5 overall, travel to Minnesota Lake Wednesday night and host New Richland Friday.

&uot;Right now, we have five non-league games before we go back and face Waseca again,&uot; said Bill Trygstad. &uot;It should tell us something about our pitching and our hitting. We’ll see what happens.&uot;

Colonels 5, Aces 3

AL

100

100

102 &045; 5

7

1

O

010

000

101 &045; 3

6

1

WP &045; Isaac Walton