Hayek Field provided the Albert Lea baseball team a sanctuary Tuesday night when the Tigers took on Mankato East.

Albert Lea (10-5, 9-5 Big Nine) returned home after dropping its last two games against Rochester Mayo and John Marshall and opened up its offense in a 16-0 rout of the Cougars.

The Tigers, who moved into the state rankings at No. 20 this week, broke the game open in the second inning with four consecutive basehits, including a two-run double from Carter Kortan in the No. 9 spot. Jordan Mondeel, Logan Kortan and Connor Kortan, who has been moved up to the No. 4 spot from the No. 7 hole, all added RBI doubles in the inning as Albert Lea put up seven runs in the frame to take an 8-0 lead.

“Our offense has been a little stagnant in the last few games, but we opened it up today,” said Tigers head coach Joe Sczublewski. “Fourteen hits — that’s outstanding. Up and down the lineup people were hitting the ball.”

Four Albert Lea hitters had multi-hit games including senior captain Logan Kortan, who finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Junior Jordan Cooper went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and hit a triple and double. Sophomore Cole Sorenson came through with three base hits and an RBI single in the third inning as well and leadoff hitter Jordan Mondeel had two base hits.

The early outburst was more than enough run support for starter Colby Strilaeff who delivered his second consecutive shutout of the season. Strileaff threw five innings of four-hit ball and walked just one while striking out two.

Strilaeff worked through a jam in the second inning when Mankato East (1-9, 1-9 Big Nine) had runners on second and third with one out. Seth Allan laid down a bunt that Strilaeff fielded and fired home to Luke Grossman who tagged Derek Quame out at home in plenty of time to preserve the shutout.

“The big thing for me this year is getting through jams,” Strilaeff said. “I think I find myself in jams a lot and I just get tough and find the extra out.”

Sczublewski fielded a revamped lineup that included J.T. Bellrichard at third base and Logan Kortan at second base.

Bellrichard started the seven-run second with a single and finished the day 1-for-3.

The win came at the right time for the Tigers as they head into the final five games of the season. Albert Lea has a doubleheader against Owatonna Thursday in Owatonna and the Huskies come in as winners of six of their last seven games.

“I think this game helped motivate us better,” Logan Kortan said. “We needed this win and I think we should be that much stronger for Owatonna.”

The doubleheader with the Huskies could be a pivotal series down the stretch.

“It’s going to say a lot as we head into sections,” Sczublewski said. “We don’t have to worry about them, we want to worry about how well we play and how hard we play and attitude and all that.”

Albert Lea 16, Mankato East 0, 5 innings

Mankato East 000 00x x —  0 4 3

Albert Lea 176 2xx x — 16 14 1

WP — Colby Strilaeff 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

LP — Seth Allan 1 2/3 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 0 K