ALBERT LEA— The Albert Lea VFW baseball team committed three errors that led to seven unearned runs and Northfield plated five runs in the fifth inning to defeat Albert Lea 9-4 Wednesday at Hayek Field.

“The game would have been a lot closer if we played better defensively,” Albert Lea VFW baseball coach Logan Kortan said. “We had three errors and two of them cost us.”

Albert Lea took a quick lead in the bottom of the first with a Tyler Woodside RBI single to take a 1-0 lead.

Albert Lea increased the lead in the third inning when Wyeth Anderson ripped a RBI double to score two runs and take a 3-0 lead.

Then in the top of the fourth, things took a bad turn for Albert Lea.

Northfield took advantage of walks and three passed balls to score five runs in the fourth inning to take a 5-3 lead.

“Errors kill us and walks always come back to haunt a baseball team,” Kortan said. “And thats exactly what happened there.”

Albert Lea cut the lead to one run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Makael Lunning hit a RBI double to score Tyler Woodside.

Although in the top of the sixth inning, Northfield again took advantage of walks and errors again and scored four runs.

Northfield scored two runs on an error and Cole Aarding hit a RBI single to score two runs and Northfield pushed the lead back to 9-4.

Tim Maus earned the win for Northfield.

Maus went six innings and allowed four runs.

Tyler Woodside took the loss for Albert Lea.

Woodside went 5 1/3 innings, while he walked five and struck out five.

“Again, I thought he pitched well enough to win,” Kortan said. “Those two errors really hurt us.”

Despite the outcome, Kortan says the team must move on and improve defensively.

“You have to move on, ” Kortan said. “Next practice, we’ll work on defense again and see what happens.”

Northfield 9, Albert Lea 4

Northfield 000 504 0 — 9 5 1

Albert Lea 102 010 0 — 4 7 3

WP— Tim Maus 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 5 K

LP— Tyler Woodside 5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 9 R, 5 BB, 5 K