The Tigers were looking for their fourth win of the week.

After beating No. 1 Mankato West Thursday evening, Albert Lea traveled to Byron to take on the Bears Friday.

It was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel as Byron’s Ryan Thompson and Albert Lea’s Blake Simon locked horns.

Thompson, who has committed to Illinois, pitched very well, but Simon got the better of him.

Simon went the distance and shut down the Bears’ bats to help the Tigers to a 4-0 win.

“We had to play small-ball,” said Tigers coach Joe Sczublewski. “Going against a pitcher like (Thompson), it’s very tough to get anything off of him. We had to execute our bunts and hope for timely hitting in order to win the game.”

The Tigers had three sacrifices on the day, and Mason Hammer provided some punch by drilling a deep RBI double.

On the mound, Simon allowed only one hit and struck out 10 batters as he had the Bears off balance all evening.

With the victory, the Tigers have now won four games in a row and are 7-6 on the season.

They will play at Owatonna on Tuesday.

First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.