Not even a full roster could keep the sixth-ranked Austin Greyhounds from losing their third straight game Wednesday night. The 'Hounds were edged 2-1 by their hosts, the eighth-ranked Waseca Braves, for their first loss of the season in Southern Minny League play.

"It was a tough game," said Austin player/manager John Frein. "They played pretty good. We didn't play too bad, but we had a couple of baserunning errors early on that hurt us.

"They beat us on a squeeze play and a bloop hit really."

The 'Hounds squandered another fine outing from Ripley (3-5), who got the loss despite tossing a complete game six-hitter. He also struck out six and walked just one.

"His record is no indication of how he's pitched this year," Frein said. "He pitched good enough to win, we just didn't support him."

Austin grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fourth off of Waseca's Ryan Krautkremer. Mitch Mullenbach began things with a leadoff base hit and Craig Selk drew a walk one out later. With two outs, Tim Kaplan delivered an opposite-field RBI-single for what would be their only run of the game.

Waseca evened matters in the fifth after consecutive singles by Chris Case and Brandon LaRue to start the inning. After they were sacrificed into scoring position, Quinn Hammond laid down a squeeze bunt that Ripley couldn't field cleanly, allowing Case to tie the game at 1.

Ripley got stronger as the game went along, but the Braves were still able to eke out the go-ahead run in the eighth. With two outs, Todd Mann singled and went to second on a wild pitch. Krautkremer then helped himself out at the plate by blooping a base hit to left to score Mann.

The Waseca lefthander, who the 'Hounds are familiar with from previous years, allowed six hits over a full nine innings to get the win.

Kaplan, Frein, Selk, and Mullenbach were all 1-for-3 to lead the Austin offense. Bryan Toov also made a triumphant return to the Greyhound lineup with a pinch-hit single in the ninth.

"Hopefully he can get his arm in shape," Frein said of Toov. "He's valuable to us on the mound."

Austin is now 4-1 in league play and 17-12 overall.

"You obviously don't like to lose, especially a league game, but right now we're more worried about getting guys at-bats and getting geared up for the playoffs," Frein said.

The Greyhounds will face another another SML foe this Friday when they travel to meet the Rochester Royals at 7:30 p.m. at Mayo Field

Linescore:

Austin000100000--161

Waseca00001001x--262

WP--Krautkramer. LP--Ripley (3-5).