The Austin baseball team dropped its season opener to Winona by a score of 3-2 in eight innings on the road Thursday.

The Winhawks scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

“It was a tough game for us,” Austin head coach Joe Kroc said. “We gave up two unearned runs to start the game. The infield was really long which evened the playing field, but we have to continue to get better. I thought for the firsts game of the year, our at bats were great from the fourth inning on against an All-Conference pitcher.”

Peter Conner had went two-for-four and Michael O’Connor had one RBI for the Packers (0-1 overall, 0-1 Big Nine).

Nate Murphy struck out four in five innings of work for Austin as he allowed zero earned runs and Josi Both struck out three as he took the loss in relief.

Austin pitching: Nate Murphy, 5 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 R, 0 ER, 4 K; Josi Bothun, 2 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 3 K; Michael O’Connor (L) 2/3 IP, 0 R

Austin hitting: Jack Dankert, 0-for-4; Bothun, 0-for-4; Phillip Zynda, 1-for-3, BB; AJ Mueller, 1-for-4, R; Hunter Guyette, R; Pete Conner, 2-for-4; Riley Retterath, 1-for-4; Hunter Johnson, 0-for-3, BB; O’Connor, 0-for-2, RBI, BB; Ross Young, 0-for-2, BB