WINONA — The Austin baseball team played plenty of defense, but it couldn’t produce enough runs as it lost 2-1 to Winona (1-0 overall, 1-0 Big Nine) in eight innings in its season opener on the road Saturday.

The Winhawks won the game when Drew Fakler hit a two out, soft liner over for a single to end the game, but it was Austin’s missed chances that caught up to them.

The Packers (0-1 overall, 0-1 Big Nine) stranded 11 runners on base and they had the bases loaded with one out in the third and didn’t score a run and runners on second and third in with one out in the seventh and didn’t score.

“We had chances to score and we could not get the clutch hit,” Austin head coach Troy Watkins said. “The defense played very well and the pitchers did a nice job of throwing strikes.”

The pitching duo of Nik Gasner and Jacob Kempen allowed just four hits in eight innings to the Winhawks as Kempen took the loss in relief.

Austin scored its lone run in the second inning when freshman Dylan Gasner started his varsity baseball career off with a single that knocked in his older brother, Nik Gasner.

“It was the first time on grass for both teams and to see the pitching and defense play at that level was good,” Watkins said.

Austin 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 5 1

Winona 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 — 2 4 1

Austin pitching: Nik Gasner, 4 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 3 K; Jacob Kempen, 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 2 ER, 2 K

Austin hitting: Dylan Gasner, 2-for-3, RBI; Zach Huntley, 1-for-3, double; Nik Gasner, 0-for-3, BB, R; Marcus Stoulil, 1-for-4; Gabe Kasak, 1-for-4, double