For the second time this year, the Greyhounds won the battle of Austin teams when they took down the Blue Sox 7-5 in Marcusen Park Friday night.

The Greyhounds (8-17 overall, 4-1 Southern Minny) got a two-run homer to deep right field from Matt Cano in the first inning and a two-out three-run triple to the right field gap from Dan Wiechmann in the third inning. John Frein added a single to score Wiechmann, which gave the Greyhounds a 7-0 lead early off of Blue Sox ace Sean Breslin.

“Sean’s a great pitcher, so you’ve gotta get runs when you can,” Nick Bowe of the Greyhounds said. “You can’t leave runners on base. Weichmann’s hit was huge. He stepped up big time.”

After the Hounds’ big inning, the Blue Sox (15-14 overall, 2-2 Southern Minny) battled back with four runs in the fourth. Aaron Port led off the inning with a bunt single, and Andy Swank, Nate Johnson and Breslin all singled consecutively to score the first run. After a wild pitch and a botched double play at second by the Hounds, the Blue Sox plated two more.

But after a one-out run scoring single by Casey Toops, Greyhounds ace Dave Meyer got out of the jam by getting Joe Kroc on a fielder’s choice and getting Port to fly out to center field.

“When you get Dave on the ropes you have to finish. If he escapes out of that inning, you might not get to him again,” Blue Sox manager Josh Kunze said. “That’s a credit to how good a pitcher he is. It’s so hard to hit Dave square, he moves the ball around and changes speed so, so well.”

Meyer said he wasn’t surprised by the Blue Sox comeback.

“They’re a scrappy bunch and they use their speed. They never stop. They’re always playing and I respect that,” he said. “I had to regroup a little bit. I got pretty tired in the fifth and sixth. We had to change a few strategies up, but we finished it.”

Kunze said it was the lesser known Greyhounds who did the most damage on the night.

“Besides the Matt Cano home run, pretty much all the damage was done by their supporting cast,” he said. “You try and limit the other team’s best players and for the most part, we did that. They just got key hits when they needed and we didn’t.”

Bowe was one of the role players who stepped up as he got hits in his first three at-bats and scored two runs.

“(My first hit) was just an infield hit, but we’ll take whatever we can get. I just try to put good swings on the ball and run everything out hard. It definitely helps the confidence (to get a hit early),” Bowe said. “Any time you can get on base in front of Matt, he’s such a good hitter that you just want to give him a chance to drive in some runs. He seems to step up in big games.”

The Greyhounds now have the inside track for the No. 1 seed in the Southern Minny playoffs. If they beat the Rochester Royals Saturday, they have the top spot. Otherwise, they need the Blue Sox to beat Rochester Friday at Marcusen Park.

Cano said he had faith in his team to step up against the Blue Sox.

“Our team’s been playing pretty well and hitting the ball well,” he said. “Am I surprised (with the fast start)? Honestly no.”

Hounds pitching: Dave Meyer (W), 9 IP, 7 H, 3 BB, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 K

Hounds hitting: Nick Rohne, 0-for-5; Nick Bowe, 3-for-5, double, 2 R; Matt Cano, 2-for-4, HR, double, 2 R; Craig Braaten, 1-for-2, R, 2 BBs; Tim Kaplan, 2-for-3, RBI; Matt Raso, 0-for-4, R; Bryan Toov, 0-for-4; Bryan Toov, 0-for-4; Dan Wiechmann, 1-for-4, triple, 3 RBIs, R; John Frein, 1-for-3, RBI

Blue Sox pitching: Sean Breslin (L), 6 IP, 9 H, 1 BB, 7 R, 3 ER, 5 K; Joe Huffman, 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 2 K

Blue Sox hitting: Aaron Port, 1-for-3, R, BB; Andy Swank, 1-for-3, 2 R, BB, SB; Nate Johnson, 2-for-4, RBI, R; Sean Breslin, 1-for-4, RBI; Pat Wolard, 0-for-3, RBI, R; Duell Higbe, 1-for-4; Casey Toops, 1-for-4, RBI; Joe Kroc, 0-for-4; Jason Denzer, 0-for-3, BB