NEW ULM — Baseball games are won by teams that make a key play in key situations.

Thursday’s game in the Junior Upper Midwest Classic was one of them.

Mason Cox’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth inning scored Alex Hillesheim as New Ulm VFW Gold scooted by Chaska 3-2 at Johnson Park.

Aaron Portner got the complete-game win for New Ulm. He allowed seven hits while striking out five.

Charlie Dardis took the loss for Chaska. He went five innings and was charged with all three runs.

Jadon Domeier and Nolan Drill each had two hits for New Ulm. Domeier had a double.

“This was a big win against a very good team,” Gold coach Mike Munce said. “We played team baseball — Aaron threw a heck of a game — and everything came together tonight. This was a big win for this club. It was a confidence booster.”

The game really came down to an inning for each team.

While New Ulm took advantage in the fifth inning by breaking a 2-2 tie, the game for Chaska may have come down to its fourth inning.

Leading New Ulm 3-2, Chaska started off the inning with a base hit from Kam Larson. Ryan Paul followed by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play.

That twin killing was big for New Ulm as Nolan Hansen, Kaden Freeman and Tommy Happ all followed with singles to load the bases before Portner got the last out on a fielder’s choice.

“I made a mound visit to settle down everybody down,” Munce said. “Talked about anticipating the ball being hit to you — expect the ball to be hit to you — and we made the plays and got out of the inning.”

That was really the last threat by Chaska in the game as retired the next seven Chaska batters and was aided by solid defensive plays from second baseman Teagan Kamm and Cox in the sixth inning.

“Aaron settled in for us real nice,” Munce said. “He changed speeds well — his off-speed was great and he kept his pitch count down.”