OWATONNA — There was an extreme shortage of hits for the No. 7 seeded Austin Post 91 Legion baseball team as it stranded 13 runners on base in a 7-1 loss to No. 2 Owatonna Post 77 in a First District first round tournament game at Fuller Field Tuesday.

Austin (8-16 overall) had just four hits in the loss and it will now play the Rochester Patriots in an elimination game at Albert Lea Friday at 10 a.m.

“All season we haven’t been able to score enough runs,” Austin head coach Bob Stratton said. “We didn’t have enough good battles.”

Owatonna’s starting pitcher Dalton Homeier walked six before being pulled after five innings, but he also sturck out 12 in that span.

After Austin pitcher Luke Mallory esacped a first inning jam by forcing a groundout to end the side with runners on second and third, the Post 77 bats got to him in the bottom of the second.

Jake Majerus and Brett Meger knocked in runs with one out singles and Owatonna (13-4 overall) tacked on three more runs off a wild pitch, a bases loaded walk by Sam Zappa and a sacrifice fly by Mike Sebring to go up 5-0.

Mallory recovered and allowed just four hits over the next four innings and Owatonna’s other two runs were both unearned in the fourth.

“We played a very good game and you’ve got to give Owatonna credit for hitting the ball,” Stratton said. “They beat us. We didn’t beat ourselves and that’s a positive.”

Austin scored its lone run in the fifth when Gabe Kasak drove in Quinn Yocom with a sacrifice fly.

Austin 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 4 2

Owatonna 0 5 0 2 0 0 0 0 X — 7 12 1

Austin pitching: Luke Mallory (L), 6 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 7 R, 5 ER, HBP; Jacob Thompson, 2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 2 K

Austin hitting: Mike Tindal, 0-for-3, SB, BB; Quinn Yocom, 1-for-4, R, BB; Joey Swatfagger, 1-for-3, BB; Zach Huntley, 0-for-4; Preston Higbe, 0-for-3, BB; Adam McMasters, 1-for-3, HBP; Aaron Goetz, 2 BBs, HBP; Marucs Stoulil, 1-for-3; Caleb Whalen, 0-for-1; Nate Paris, 0-for-1; Zach Wilder, 0-for-1; Thompson, 0-for-1