You can't take anything away from Andy Klapperick for throwing strikes -- that's what pitchers are supposed to do.

And strikes are what Winona was hitting.

The Winhawks jumped on Klapperick's first pitch of the game and added four late runs off the Austin bullpen for a 9-4 Big Nine Conference win over the host Packers Tuesday night at Marcusen Park.

Winona scored three runs on four hits --including three doubles -- in the first inning, facing no more than a handfull of pitches. Klapperick could not gain the upper hand on Winona's hitters because none of the fastballs he threw got across the plate.

"We just tell the kids to swing the bat," said Winona coach Rod Schwarz. "There's nothing special we do, just get three good hacks up there today. We saw fastballs right away and the kids did a good job of jumping on them."

Austin recovered from the early onslaught as Mike Leathers came on for three innings of relief. The Packers battled back to within one run with a pair of scores in the bottom of the sixth, but Leathers had trouble getting started in the seventh and Neil Toov came on in relief with no outs and the bases loaded.

Toov's tough situation was quickly remedied as Winona's Jason Pehler tripled to right field to clear the bases. Winona's lead now cushioned, starting hurler Sean Zaborowski finished his complete game victory with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh.

"We had our opportunities, but give Winona credit, they came out and hit the ball," said Austin coach Kris Fadness.

Baserunning errors again proved costly for the Packers. Matt Johnson's run-scoring triple chased home leadoff hitter Nick Bowe -- who had doubled to center off the first pitch -- but forced Kyle Rizzi to head home when he was forced up a base. Johnson was stranded at third for the final two outs, and Austin never seemed to regain the swagger it had for the first three hitters.

"I'll take half of the blame for that one," Coach Fadness said. "Maybe I need to be a little more demonstrative with that, yet at the same time Matt needs to see what the runner's doing ahead of him..

"The worst part about it was that it deflated us."

Austin had five hits over the final six innings, including a two-run sixth that nearly brought the Packers all the way back. Johnson led off with a single and scored on Klapperick's double to right. Brandon Schaefer singled home Klapperick, still with no outs, but got as far as third base before the inning ended.

Johnson, who finished the game 3-3 with two triples, one run scored and two RBIs, was on deck when Zaborowski retired Rizzi with a groundout back to the mound. The bottom four hitters in Austin's order combined for an 0-for-12 outing.

The Pack have to rebound for Friday's trip to Rochester Century. Austin returns home on Saturday for a 1 p.m. meeting with rival Albert Lea.

Call Ross Thede at 434-2234 or e-mail him at :mailto:sports@austindailyherald.com.

Linescore:

Winona3020003--9132

Austin 1010020--471

Sean Zaborowski and Mike Rose; Andy Klapperick, Mike Leathers (4), Neil Toov (7) and Billy Anderson. WP--Zaborowski. LP--Klapperick (0-1). 2B--Zaborowski 2, Plemmons, Rose, Pehler, Bowe, Klapperick. 3B--M.Johnson 2, Pehler.