-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Kinnick Henning of St. Edmond catches a fly ball against Algona on Monday

The St. Edmond baseball team finds themselves in a bit of an early-season slump.

Back at Rogers Park on Monday night, the Gaels were limited to one hit in an 8-1 loss to North Central Conference rival Algona.

And while SEHS head coach Mike Szalat isn’t hitting the panic button, he is searching for answers.

“We just can’t seem to get much going at the plate,” Szalat said. “I know we’re seeing some really strong pitching right now, but we need to do something. Maybe we need to be more aggressive early in counts.

“I’m not sure, but I am excited about the outlook of these guys. They continue to play hard and showed that in the seventh (Monday).”

Down 8-0, the Gaels (2-6 overall, 2-4 in league) finally got a hit off Aiden Ulrich and manufactured a run with John Nemmers coming around to score.

“That showed our fight as a team,” Szalat said. “We could have just kind of went out there and laid down in the seventh, but these guys kept playing and kept competing. I just really love that about this group.”

Besides that, Ulrich kept St. Edmond off balance, striking out 10 while working around four walks. He also drove in a run, as the Bulldogs (5-7, 2-1) scored runs in the first three innings before adding four more in the fifth.

Ulrich and Jensen Eischen were each 3-for-4 while Carloz Gomez-Banchs and Alex Manske had two hits. Manske, who had a triple, also drove in two.

JT Laufersweiler, Tyler McDowell, Leo Ehn and Joe Touney all drew walks for the Gaels, as Ethan Swisher plated Nemmers. Ehn also had a stolen base. Hayden Derrig went the distance on the mound, striking out six.

St. Edmond returns to action on Wednesday at Hampton-Dumont/CAL.

ALGONA 8, ST. EDMOND 1

Algona 121 040 0 — 8 13 0

St. Edmond 000 000 1 — 1 1 2

WP–Aiden Ulrich (1-1, 7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 10 K, 4 BB). LP–Hayden Derrig (0-2, 7 IP, 14 H, 8 R, 6 K, 3 BB).

3B–A: Alex Manske. 2B–A: Jensen Eischen, Alex Manske. RBI–A: Alex Manske (2), Austin Steenhoek, Reid Louwagie, Aiden Ulrich, Jensen Eischen, Tate Slagle; SE: Ethan Swisher. SB–A: Carlos Gomez-Banchs; SE: Leo Ehn.