The Austin baseball team took a lead after trailing by six runs, but it couldn’t close the deal as it lost 10-9 to Mankato West in Seltz Field Thursday.

The Packers (1-6 overall, 1-6 overall) had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Riley Wagner, who was 2-for-4, struck out and Isaac Schumacher grounded out to end the game. The Scarlets (6-2 overall, 5-2 Big Nine) took the lead for good in the top of the seventh when Robert Meidl and Luke Kolars came up with back-to-back two-out RBI hits. Austin could’ve been out of the inning, as Isaac Schumacher struck out the first two batters of the seventh, but one of those batters reached first base as the third strike was a wild pitch.

“Everything we do and everything we don’t do matters,” Austin head coach Chris Gogolewski said. “Just what the impact that is towards winning the game, we don’t know.”

Schumacher pitched the last four innings of the game, but the Packers may have put in a different pitcher to close out the game, had they not have just played Albert Lea Wednesday with a doubleheader at Rochester Mayo scheduled for Friday.

“I had to be thinking about who we have for tomorrow,” Gogolewski said. “Nate [Conner] was going to finish it up, but as we started thinking about tomorrow more we needed to save arms. I told [Schumacher] we’ve got a doubleheader tomorrow so we needed him for the rest of it.”

Austin showed some resolve after it fell behind 8-2 in the top of the fifth. The Packers scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth when Jason Stoulil singled in a run, and then Stoulil got in a pickle to help Conner score from third. In the sixth, Nik Gasner singled in a run to make it 9-8 Austin with one out.

The Packers also received a boost from the bottom of the order as the last three hitters in the lineup combined to go 4-for-9,

“It wasn’t just one or two guys leading the way,” Gogolewski said. “Riley Wagner had some clutch hits, Ryan McCormack sacrificed himself for the team and Brady McDermott stepped up.”

Conner, who went 2-for-3 with a double, would’ve liked to get a win on Thursday, but he said the squad is starting to feel more confident.

“It was spread out and that was good to see. I think we all felt pretty comfortable, even with lefties [pitching],” Conner said. “We’re getting more comfortable. We just need to play a full, solid game.”

MW 0 2 1 2 3 0 2 — 10 9 2

Austin 0 0 0 2 4 3 0 — 9 11 2

Austin pitching: Hunter Lewis, 3 IP, 2 H, 5 BB, 3 ER, 1 K, 1 HBP; Isaac Schumacher (L) 4 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 7 R, 5 ER, 3 K

Austin hitting: Dylan Gasner, 1-for-4, RBI, R; Alex Ciola, 1-for-4, RBI, R; Nik Gasner, 1-for-3, RBI, R, BB; Conner, 2-for-3, double, 2 R, BB; Jason Stoulil, 2-for-4, RBI; Ryan McCormack, 0-for-3, RBI; Brady McDermott, 1-for-3, R, BB; Riley Wagner, 2-for-4, R; Schumacher, 1-for-3, 2 R, BB