Having already picked up a road win at Eau Claire this season, the Austin Greyhounds had to like their chances of getting another Saturday at Marcusen Park.

It was not to be, however, as the Cavaliers scored twice in the seventh and final inning to hang a 7-5 defeat on the reeling Greyhounds and extend Austin's losing streak to a season-high five games.

"We need something to get us out of this funk we're in right now," said Austin shortstop John Frein. "We're hurting on arms, hurting on getting outs."

"We're just hurting," said Austin manager Bryant Olson.

Eau Claire was outhit 10-8, but five of their hits went for extra bases, including a home run and a double from Travis Thompson.

'Hounds spot starter Tate Cummins was roughed up in the early going as Eau Claire jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Matt Bowe's two-run double in the first and Perry Cloud's RBI-triple in the fourth were the big blows for the Cavaliers.

Austin began to show some life in the fourth, loading the bases off of three singles and an error. But they managed just one run out of the inning.

The 'Hounds put up two more the following inning thanks to two-run double of the bat of Craig Selk.

Austin mounted another rally in the sixth when Frein beat out what would have been an inning-ending double play and then stole second. Cummins and Bryan Toov followed with RBI-singles to tie the game at 5.

Eau Claire snatched the momentum right back in their next turn at the plate. After Cummins retired the first two batters, Thompson drilled his solo homer to give the Cavaliers the lead. Jim Bohmbach added an RBI-double later in the inning to give Eau Claire what would prove to be an insurmountable 7-5 lead.

Cummins went all seven innings in defeat, allowing five earned runs while striking out six. His counterpart Adam Rothenbuhler racked up nine strikeouts to pick up the complete game victory.

Cummins did what he could with the bat to get the win, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Selk finished 2-for-4 with the two-run double, while Grant Lunning and Tim Kaplan had a couple of hits each.

"It's nice to see some guys getting some hits at least," Frein said.

Class B's defending state champion and sixth-ranked 'Hounds are now 17-14 on the year. Sunday's game against Owatonna was canceled when the Aces were unable to field a full team. Austin travels to Minnetonka this Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. game with Class A's third-ranked Millers (25-7).

Linescore:

Eau Claire2012002--782

Austin0001220--5103

Adam Rothenbuhler and Travis Thompson; Tate Cummins and Matt Raso. WP--Rothenbuhler. LP--Cummins. 2B--EC: Thompson, Bohmbach, Bowe; AUS: Selk. 3B--EC: Cloud. HR--EC: Thompson.