Austin’s lineup knows it will get hits … eventually.

It just took six full innings before the Packers started to piece things together and it was just enough to beat Big 9 foe Northfield 3-1 Saturday at Northfield High School.

Austin (5-2, 5-2) came into the game on the heels of a 9-5 loss to undefeated Owatonna on Thursday and wanted to rebound against the Raiders. It just took a little longer than expected. Austin went hitless the first six innings and finished with just two hits in the game.

Riley Wempner had the biggest hit of the game when he lashed a triple to the fence in the top of the seventh to score two runs to put the Packers up 3-1.

“Everyone in the lineup knows we can hit,” Wempner said. “It’s just a matter of getting dialed in and having good at-bats.”

Wempner made an adjustment at the plate after he popped up in his first at-bat. The lead-off hitter got a pitch on the inside of the plate after popping out on a pitch on the outside of the plate.

“To be very honest, we didn’t very many good at-bats throughout the game,” Austin coach Joe Kroc said. “We’ve got to give their kid (Northfield's Derek Albers) credit. He wasn’t throwing the hardest but he was mixing pitches, mixing speeds and hitting spots. Against that kind of a pitcher you have to be thinking up the middle, backside. We were really aggressive and that played in their favor. Luckily we had good at-bats in the seventh.”

Northfield starter Derek Albers threw 6 ⅓ innings, six of those were no-hit ball. He walked four and struck out three.

“Hard way to lose,” Raiders coach Mark Auge said. “He pitched a great game, kept us in it, gave us lots of opportunities to take the lead and we didn’t capitalize. They finally got to him at the end.”

Albers worked with a 1-0 lead after the bottom of the first inning when his RBI groundout scored Blake Christensen, who drew a leadoff walk.

The Packers tied the game in the sixth inning after a pair of errors and a wild pitch allowed Jack Dankert to score.

Austin pitcher Michael O’Connor fought back from that first inning on the mound. He finished with nine strikeouts, two walks and gave up five hits. Carter Hodapp had three of those hits for the Raiders (1-5, 1-4) after hitting two doubles.

“He was fantastic,” Kroc said of O’Connor. “This is his second straight quality start for us. After looking a little shaky in the first inning, he rebounded really nice and filled up the strike zone for the most part after that first inning. We needed him to go deep into the game. In the first inning it just seemed like he didn’t have a rhythm or a tempo so after the first inning we told him between innings, ‘Get on the mound and throw it.’”

Northfield stranded six runners in scoring position.

After committing eight errors against Owatonna Thursday, the Packers finished with none against the Raiders.