It’s been feast or famine lately for the Albert Lea baseball team and Thursday night the Tigers went starving against Owatonna.

The Huskies swept Albert Lea by scores of 9-2 and 13-1 in five innings in Owatonna as the Tigers lost for the fourth time in five games.

Conversley the Huskies won their eighth game in nine tries by pounding out a combined 19 hits.

“They hit the ball well,” said Albert Lea head coach Joe Sczublewski. “They smacked it around all day. They played as well as anybody we’ve faced all season.”

It was a matchup of two divergent teams as Owatonna (10-7, 9-6 Big Nine) started the season 2-6 but has gone 8-1 since while the Tigers (10-7, 9-6 Big Nine) started the season 9-3 and have gone 1-4 since, but two of those losses came at the hands of No. 4-ranked John Marshall and No. 15-ranked Mayo.

The offense had its chances in the first game as Albert Lea connected for nine hits, but finding the timely hits were tough to come by.

Owatonna jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the Tigers got on the board in the fifth inning when Connor Kortan hit a two-run single.

Logan Kortan, Jordan Mondeel and Luke Grossman all had multi-hit games with Kortan leading the way with a 3-for-4 night. Mondeel went 2-for-4 and Grossman went 2-for-3.

The Huskies displayed their power with Neil Eddie and Kyle Melcher connecting for solo homers in the first game.

Logan Kortan lasted just three innings and allowed six runs on seven hits and walked two in the loss.

In the second game Albert Lea went up against left-hander Kyle Melcher, who Sczublewski described as one of the toughest pitchers the team has faced all season.

Melcher allowed just one run on three hits. Melcher struck out five and walked just two.

Melcher cruised on the mound as Owatonna grabbed a 12-0 lead after the first three innings.

Starter Jordan Cooper lasted just 1 1/3 innings and allowed seven runs, four earned, on four hits as the pitching staff had a tough time in both games.

“We just have to change our speeds a little better and get ahead in the count and we need to do a better job of our location,” Sczublewski said. “We’re confident we’ll do better in our next game.”

The Tigers have three games remaining in the regular season and resume play Tuesday when they travel to Mankato to face the Cougars. After Mankato Albert Lea heads to Winona for a game and returns home for New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva for the season finale.

Owatonna 9, Albert Lea 2, Game 1

Albert Lea 000 020 0 — 2 9 2

Owatonna 303 030 x — 9 10 0

WP — Brian Sebring 7 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

LP — Logan Kortan 3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 0 K

Owatonna 13, Albert Lea 1, 5 innings, Game 2

Albert Lea 000 01x x — 1 3 3

Owatonna 345 10x x — 13 9 2

WP — Kyle Melcher 3 H, 5 K, 2 BB

LP — Jordan Cooper 1 1/3 4 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 K