Third time’s a charm, right? Not exactly for the Albert Lea baseball team.

The Tigers were matched up with two teams that beat them twice during the regular season in the first round of Section 1AAA playoffs at Owatonna in the C bracket, and tried to make up for losses against Owatonna and Winona.

Albert Lea (12-10) completed its first task by finally knocking off the Winhawks 4-2, after they had beaten the Tigers 6-2 and 11-10 in their previous meetings.

Jordan Cooper pitched seven strong innings, giving up two runs on four hits and striking out four in the win.

“The first game Cooper just threw so effectively and our defense shut them down and we took advantage of a few opportunities early in the game,” said Albert Lea head coach Joe Sczublewski. “We shut down their big hitters and Cooper just threw a real effective game and we had some timely hits.”

Connor Kortan, who finished 5-for-6 on the day, delivered a two-run single in the first inning as Albert Lea got on top early. The Tigers added two more runs in the third and held off a late rally by Winona in the fifth inning.

The third meeting between Owatonna and Albert Lea had a lot more fire to it than when the Huskies pounded the Tigers in a doubleheader sweep but the result was the same as Owatonna rallied from a five-run deficit to win 13-10.

Albert Lea held a 10-5 heading into the bottom half of the fourth, but the Huskies scored three runs in the inning to climb within two.

In the sixth Neil Eddie’s single through the left side of the infield tied the game at 10. Then with runners on first and second and one away Kyle Melcher hit a chopper over the head of Carter Kortan that allowed Quinn Christenson to score the go-ahead run.

Home plate turned into a courtroom later in inning as both teams had close calls at the plate.

With Sam Zappa on first and Kyle Melcher on third, the Tigers caught Zappa stealing second. Melcher broke for home and avoided a tag by Albert Lea catcher Luke Grossman as he slid around Grossman to swipe the back corner of the plate to give the Huskies a 12-10 lead. The Tigers thought Melcher never touched the plate, but the umpire ruled him safe.

Owatonna was thrown out at home on the previous play when Tigers’ second baseman Cody Hansen threw home in time to cut down Travis Hilstad, who was running for catcher Neil Eddie.

The Huskies started off the inning with a walk from Mitch Berg, a single from Paul Satterlund and a walk from Chistenson.

“We just had to throw strikes there at the end and make some routine plays,” Sczublewski said. “We have to do that to be effective, to be successful against a good team.”

Owatonna (12-9) had its ace on the mound against the Tigers, Kyle Melcher, a lefty who limited Albert Lea to three hits last time he faced the team, but Saturday the Tigers were able to get to him early and knocked him out by the fourth inning.

Albert Lea tallied 15 hits in the game, including nine against Melcher.

The game went back and forth from the beginning. Albert Lea led off the first with four runs with Klatt coming through with a two-run double. Connor Kortan had an RBI single that scored Jordan Mondeel and Cole Sorenson drove in Kortan for the 4-0 lead.

It didn’t last long as the Huskies stormed back in the bottom half with a two-out rally.

Colby Strilaeff retired the first two hitters he faced on ground balls to short, but the next five hitters reached base. Eddie stroked a RBI single and Melcher followed with an infield single. Matt Simon connected for a two-run single and Zappa tied the game with an RBI single.

Albert Lea made it 10-5 entering the bottom half of the fourth behind a two-run single from Jordan Mondeel while Jordan Cooper scored on a wild pitch and Connor Kortan scored on an error at third.

“Fifteen hits and we don’t win the game,” Sczublewski said. “That’s disappointing. We played hard and hopefully we’ll shut them down on Monday.”

The Tigers will face either Winona or Owatonna Monday at 11 a.m., depending on the outcome of the Winona-Owatonna game Saturday afternoon or they will play Owatonna Monday at 11 a.m. if Owatonna wins