Steve Serratore hadn’t swung a bat at a pitch in a game in nearly four months, but that didn’t slow him down in Marcusen Park Wednesday.

Serratore delivered a key pinch-hit RBI in the seventh inning to give the Austin Greyhounds a two-run cushion and they held on to beat the Owatonna Aces 3-1. Serratore, who will be playing baseball at Division I Kansas State University next season was injured in his 11th game at Des Moines Area Community College this past spring, and he missed a majority of last summer with another injury.

He was glad to be back in the action on Wednesday.

“I just started to hit about a week ago and it was good to get a nice at-bat here. I love playing here,” Serratore said. “Everything happens for a reason and sometimes you’ve got to take it day by day. Sometimes you’ve got to battle adversity and hopefully I’ll come out on the good side of things when this is all done.”

Serratore received a medical red-shirt for his lost year at DMACC and he has three years of eligibility at Kansas State, where he is already attending school. Serratore will head back to school for two weeks and he plans on coming back up to Austin to play with the Hounds for the first two weeks of August.

“I really love the environment so far,” Serratore said of Kansas State. “I’m getting to know some guys and I’m getting to know the coaches better. I can’t wait for the season to start.”

The Hounds (8-7 overall) took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning when Matt Cano hit a sacrifice fly and Josh Evans delivered a two-out RBI triple.

Austin’s pitching trio of Nels Nelson, Joe Huffman and Zach Schara held the Aces to just four hits in the win.

Owatonna 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 4 1

Hounds 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 X —  3 6 2

Hounds pitching: Nels Nelson (W) 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 7 K; Joe Huffman, 2 IP, 0 R; Zach Schara, 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 4 K

Hounds hitting: Henry Fleek, 2-for-4, R; Andy Swank, 1-for-4, R; Tyler Leopold, 1-for-3, R; Matt Cano, 0-for-3, RBI; Josh Evans, 1-for-2, triple, RBI, R, BB; Matt Raso, 0-for-2; Gabe Kasak, 0-for-2, BB; Jamaal Gibson, 0-for-2; John Frein, 0-for-3; Steve Serratore, 1-for-1, RBI