Winona jumped out of the gates quickly Thursday night against the Albert Lea baseball team at Hayek Field and the Tigers weren’t able to mount a response in a 6-2 loss.

The Winhawks (2-1, 2-1 Big Nine) tagged Albert Lea starter Logan Kortan for four runs in the first inning while the Tiger offense couldn’t seem to find the holes in the Winona defense.

“The first inning kind of told the story, then their pitcher shut us down and their defense made some plays on the line drives we hit,” said Albert Lea head coach Joe Sczublewski. “We hit the ball pretty well but they made some nice plays in the field.”

Both teams tallied seven hits in the game, but the Tigers never put together a big inning like the Winhawks did in the first.

Winona batted eight in the first inning and delivered three consecutive base hits as it pushed four runs across in the first.

The Winhawks keyed on Kortan’s fastball and didn’t miss when he offered it up.

“We were a bit predictable the first inning and they took advantage of it,” Sczublewski said.

Winona starter Kyle Kowaleski meanwhile mixed his pitches effectively and kept Albert Lea off-balance at the plate in the early innings.

The Tigers (4-2, 3-2 Big Nine) threatened in the fourth inning when designated hitter Jordan Cooper led off with a booming double to the alley in left, but Cooper was cut down at home trying to score on a sacrifice fly to left from Aaron Klatt.

“It’s not like we didn’t hit the ball, it’s just that we were hitting it right at them and they made some good plays and there were some at ‘em balls,” Sczublewski said.

Kortan settled in on the mound and allowed just two runs on three hits the rest of the way. He finished with seven strikeouts in the game and walked just one.

“That was the first time we’ve gotten off to a start like that this year,” Sczublewski said. “We’d prefer to shut the door on them right off the bat and do that in return.”

Albert Lea scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning. Dillon Stolt came around to score on a single by Jordan Mondeel and Luke Grossman drove Mondeel in on an RBI double.

“They’re certainly a team we feel we can compete with,” Sczublewski said. “Hopefully next time we’ll be able to turn the tables on them.”

Winona 6, Albert Lea 2

Winona 400 200 0 — 6 7 2

Albert Lea 000 000 2 — 2 7 1

WP — Kyle Kowaleski 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4K

LP — Logan Kortan 7 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 7 K