A little pride was on the line Friday when Albert Lea’s Ryan Wangen entered the batter’s box against Wells at Hayek Field.

Wangen, who coaches many of the Wells players during the high school season, saved face when he lined a pitch into left field with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to give the Colonels (3-12) a 5-4 come-from-behind victory.

“I had to do something because their whole infield is kids that I’ve coached and I’ve coached them the last three, four years,” he said. “If they beat me I would have been humiliated.”

It was a big hit for Wangen, who was thrown out at third in the previous inning and was 0-for-4 in the game.

“All I wanted was a line drive somewhere,” he said. “It was a huge spot to get a hit because I have really been slumping.”

Albert Lea trailed 4-1 entering the final three innings and started to chip away in the seventh when Logan Kortan drove in Zac Oquist on an infield hit to make the game 4-2.

In the eighth the Colonels needed a spark and got one when Casey Woodside was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Nick Hagen hit a pinch-hit double and Colby Strilaeff added a base hit as Albert Lea put two runs across in the inning to tie the game.

It didn’t matter how the rally got started for Colonels manager Bill Trygstad just as long as the club got back into the game.

“Some body to start it,” Trygstad said. “Somebody to get on base to put a little pressure on them.”

With one out in the ninth Jared Gavle and Woodside drew consecutive walks and Hagen reached on an error to load the bases. After Strilaeff went down swinging, Wangen delivered the game-winning hit.

“You can’t lose to the kids you coach,” Wangen said.

Brandon Klukow kept Albert Lea in the game with his complete game victory. Klukow threw less than 100 pitches and struck out five for the win.

“Brandon pitched a heck of a game for us again,” Trygstad said.

Wells took the lead in the second inning when A.J. Dreyer came around to score on a base hit. The Wildcats added to their lead in the third when Trevor Haugh scored following his leadoff double.

In the sixth Wells extended the lead to 4-1 after Paul Tompzah hit a double to plate William Huper and Dreyer.

The win made up for an loss earlier in the season in Wells for the Colonels.

“It’s always a lot more fun winning,” Trygstad said.

Albert Lea played the Rochester Blues Saturday in Rochester, the results weren’t available at press time.

Albert Lea 5, Wells 4

Wells 011 011 000 — 4 9 4

Albert Lea 000 010 121 — 5 10 3

WP — Brandon Klukow 9 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

LP — Eric Niebuhr 3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K