The Austin baseball team had a chance against one of the top teams in the Big Nine, but they couldn’t pull it off in a 1-0 loss at Albert Lea (6-0 overall, 6-0 Big Nine) Thursday.

Anthony Condit and Josh Hart each singled with one out in the top of the seventh inning and they moved to second and third on a passed ball, but Quinn Yocom grounded out to the catcher and Albert Lea’s Aaron Klatt struck out the final Austin hitter to end the game.

“We battled to the end and tried to rally,” Austin head coach Troy Watkins said. “Klatt is a solid pitcher, but we did a pretty good job of hitting. We were aggressive and I was happy to see that.”

Luke Mallory allowed just three hits and one unearned run in the third on the mound for Austin (0-4 overall, 0-3 Big Nine).

It was the first time all season that the Tigers were held under four runs.

“Luke pitched well and he mixed his pitches nicely. His curve ball was going and that was encouraging,” Watkins said. “Albert Lea is one of the top teams in our conference and if we continue to play like this, we’ll win some games.”

Austin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 3 1

AL 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 3 0

Austin pitching: Luke Mallory (L), 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 K

AL pitching: Aaron Klatt, 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 7 K

Austin hitting: Anthony Condit, 2-for-3; Josh Hart, 1-for-3