The Austin Blue Sox couldn’t hold off the Mankato Mets in an 11-7 loss at Marcusen Park Friday.

The Mets put up five runs in the top of the fifth to take an 8-6 lead and they never trailed again. Pacelli grad Sam Stier, who finished three-for-three with a double, had a key two-out, two-run single into center to get the Mankato rally going.

“I guess we just played today. We lacked intensity early and we picked it up and got going,” said Stier, who plays college baseball at Bethany Lutheran in Mankato.

It was the first time Stier had played in Marcusen Park in two years.

“I saw quite a few people that I recognize and I used to play with all of these guys. It’s nice to see them all again and see how they’re doing. It’s also nice to play in front of my mom because she doesn’t make it too many college games,”Stier said.

Austin (1-6 overall, 0-1 Southern Minny) pulled within a run in the sixth when Mark Harber tripled in a run with one out, but he was stranded at third when Josh Kunze grounded out and Adam McMasters struck out.

Austin had runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when Preston Higbe struck out to end the game.

“Other than the middle of our order, we haven’t been hitting,” Kunze said. “We need to find out who is going to be here in the long term. We don’t have that killer instinct yet where we take the lead and it’s ours for the rest of the game.”

Austin threw four different pitchers on the night and all of them allowed at least one run.

“We give them away too easy. We’ll have a walk, then a wild pitch and then all of the sudden one single scores a run,” Kunze said. “The roles are reversed for us and it seems like we need three singles to score a run. You’re not going to win a lot of games that way and that’s a sign of a young team.”

Austin took a 6-3 lead in the fourth when Joey Swatfager singled in a run with two outs and Harber added an RBI-double.

Brian Voigt hit a solo homer over the right field fence in the third inning.

Mets 1 0 2 0 5 0 2 0 1 — 11 15 3

Blue Sox 0 0 2 4 0 1 0 0 0 — 7 10 3

Blue Sox pitching: Brian Voigt, 4 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 K, HBP; Jon Mittag (L), 2 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 ER, 2 HBP; Adam Hemann, 2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 K; Preston Higbe, 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 ER

Blue Sox hitting: Higbe, 2-for-5, R, BB; Joey Swatfager, 1-for-4, RBI, 2 R, BB; Voigt, 2-for-4, HR, RBI, R, BB; Mark Harber, 2-for-3, double, triple, 3 RBIs, 2 BBs; Josh Kunze, 1-for-4, double, RBI, BB; Steve Rizzi, 0-for-3, 2 BBs; Jacob Hines, 0-for-2; Brandon Rector, 1-for-5; Josh Pederson, 0-for-1, R, BB; Adam McMasters, 0-for-3; Mike Tindal, 1-for-3