Late into the season the Albert Lea Colonels are still searching for consistency in all facets of the game and it didn’t come Friday in a 12-5 loss against Austin at Hayek Field.

It took the Colonels (3-15) four innings before they got on the board, but at that point they trailed the Blue Sox 9-0.

Austin struck for six runs in the second inning as it sent 11 men to the plate and it looked like it might be an early evening for Albert Lea.

“Couple of bloopers, like three of them out there I think, and it just mushroomed from there,” said Colonels manager Bill Trygstad. “But our guys didn’t give up, they battled and made a game out of it.”

Back-to-back walks to start the fifth put Albert Lea in business and leadoff hitter Logan Kortan delivered an RBI double to score Zac Oquist, but Brandon Klukow was cut down at the plate trying to score.

Jared Gavle followed with a walk and Ryan Wangen walked to load the bases. A error in left field on a ball hit by Taylor Ignaszewski allowed two runs to score and Nick Hagen later added an RBI single to make it 9-4, but Jared Matson was tagged out when he was caught in between second and third to end the inning.

“We ran ourselves out a little bit that inning,” Trygstad said.

The Colonels were thrown out at home for the second time later in the seventh inning. With one run already in and two out, Ignaszewski tried to score from third on a passed ball, but was thrown out at home to end the inning.

“They were hustle mistakes, some of them,” Trygstad said. “What do you say about a hustle mistake — it’s a mistake, but at least they’re hustling. Yeah, you’d like to be a little less aggressive in certain situations. Other than that we didn’t play that bad.”

Albert Lea committed five errors in the field, but none led to big innings like in the past. All six runs in the second were earned, but four were unearned.

The Blue Sox (14-3) tagged Colonels starter Brandon Klukow for 10 hits and nine runs in his five innings of work. Josh Kunze went 3-for-5 with two RBIs to lead Austin.

Kortan and Gavle started things off for Albert Lea at the top of the order. Kortan went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored while Gavle went 2-for-5 with a run scored.

The Colonels face New Richland Sunday at Hayek Field at 6 p.m.

Austin 12, Albert Lea 5

Austin 160 022 100 —  12 15 2

Albert Lea 000 040 100 — 5 10 5

WP — Ryan Palmer 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K

LP — Brandon Klukow 5 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K