For the third straight game, the Austin baseball team came up short with a chance to tie or win the game in its last at-bat as it fell to Mankato East (1-3 overall, 1-3 Big Nine) 5-4 at Seltz Field Monday.

The Packers (0-5 overall, 0-4 Big Nine) had runners on first and third with one out in the bottom of the seventh when Gabe Kasak lined out to the pitcher, who threw to third to get a game-ending double play.

“It was kind of a weird play, but Gabe’s the one you would want up there in that situation,” Austin head coach Troy Watkins said. “It was just bad luck.”

Austin committed eight errors on the night and none of the Cougars’ runs were earned.

“Our pitching has been decent, we’ve just got to make plays,” Watkins said. “We need to put pitching, hitting and defense together to win and I’d like to see it happen.”

East 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 — 5 5 2

Austin 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 — 4 9 8

Austin pitching: Jacob Thompson (L), 6 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 3 R, 0 ER, 6 K; Luke Mallory, 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER

Austin hitting: Quinn Yocom, 2-for-3; Jay Ettinger, 1-for-3, R, SB; Gabe Kasak, 1-for-4, R, SB; Marcus Stoulil, 3-for-4, RBI, SB; Joe Rasso, 0-for-3, R; Caleb Wahlen, 1-for-3, R; Andrew Kaiser, 1-for-3