The Austin baseball team handed Rochester Mayo its first Big Nine loss of the season, but the Packers couldn’t finish off the sweep in a doubleheader at Seltz Field Thursday. The Packers won the first game 4-2 and the Spartans took the nightcap 12-7.

Austin led 4-0 in the first game when the Spartans pulled to within 4-2 in the seventh. Mayo had two runners on with no outs and Jack Dankert came into retire three straight hitters to get the save. Austin (3-4 overall, 2-4 Big Nine) led the second game 6-5 after five innings, but Mayo (5-3 overall, 4-1 Big Nine) scored four runs in the top of the sixth to take over.

“It kind of sucks to not pull both of them out,” said Austin senior Nate Conner. “You feel better if you play well and we didn’t really play too well in the second game. We didn’t hit as well as we could have. You can’t feel too good about that.”

Alex Ciola scattered six hits and four walks as he allowed zero earned runs in six innings to get the mound win in game one. He was also two-for-three with a double in that game.

“In the first game Alex didn’t have his best stuff,” Austin head coach Chris Gogolewski said. “I call that a working man’s day when you don’t have your best stuff, but you’re still able to get outs. That’s what he did. He got frustrated, but he was able to throw the ball over the plate and Dylan [Gasner] helped out a lot by making good calls.”

The Packers went through four pitchers in the second game and their defense struggled behind them.

“In the second game, walks and errors were the story,” Gogolewski said. “We had five walks and they had six unearned runs and that doesn’t normally get you a ‘W.’”

Austin has relied on its seniors for this season, but the team has also been working sophomores Phillip Zynda, a catcher and first baseman, and Dankert, an infielder, into the lineup. In the second game Dankert played shortstop and Conner moved to second base for the Packers.

“I told Jack when I moved into shortstop for varsity, it’s so much quicker and everyone’s fast compared to other levels,” Conner said. “You do what you can.”

Gogolewski said it was good to get different players in the lineup on Thursday as the Packers have a couple of more doubleheaders on the horizon.

“Just getting guys in different spots is big. The stretch for us at the end of April and the beginning of the May is big. Everybody’s going to be needed,” he said.

Mayo 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 — 2 6 1

Austin 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 — 4 4 2

Austin pitching: Alex Ciola (W) 6 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 2 R, 0 ER; Jack Dankert (S) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 K

Austin hitting: Nate Conner, 0-for-3; Ciola, 2-for-3, double, R, HBP; Dylan Gasner, 0-for-2, R, 2 BBs; Phillip Zynda, 1-for-3, BB; Jason Stoulil, 1-for-4, R; Jakob Crouch, 0-for-2, R, BB; Ryan McCormack, 3 BBs, RBI, SB; Dankert, 0-for-2, RBI, BB; Forest Lewis, 0-for-2, RBI

Mayo 1 0 0 1 3 4 3 — 12 9 0

Austin 1 0 0 0 5 1 0 — 7 8 5

Austin pitching: Garett Ruroden, 4 1/3 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 R, 2 ER; Jason Stoulil, 1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 ER; Tyler Bundy (L) 1 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 R; Jakob Crouch, 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 R, 0 ER

Austin hitting: Conner, 2-for-3, RBI, 2 R, BB; Gasner, 0-for-1, RBI, BB, 2 HBPs; Zynda, 1-for-2, 2 RBIs, BB; Stoulil, 1-for-4, RBI; Crouch, 0-for-2; McCormack, 2-for-4, R; Dankert, 0-for-1, R, BB; Tristan Bauer, 1-for-2, RBI, R; Tanner Steene, R, BB; Evan McAlister, 1-for-1