Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Sleepy Eye shortstop Zach Haala tries to make a throw to first for a double play during the second game of a doubleheader against the Mankato Americans Thursday in Sleepy Eye. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

SLEEPY EYE — Errors and exhausted pitching affected both Mankato American and Sleepy Eye Legion baseball teams in a doubleheader split on Thursday.

Mankato powered its way to a 14-3 five-inning victory in Game 1 before Sleepy Eye held off a late comeback attempt to win 14-10 in Game 2.

“We have to be on top of our game to be a good baseball team,” Sleepy Eye coach John Mielke said. “First game, we weren’t. But we did bounce back and I was proud of the guys for that.”

In Game 1, Mankato set the tone with a four-run first inning off starting pitcher Matt Mielke. Post 7 managed to capitalize on a leadoff double by Zach Haala in the bottom of the first, but Mankato consistently attacked Matt Mielke at the plate en route to taking a 7-1 lead after 2 1/2 innings.

“We were flat-footed in the infield,” John Mielke said. “Balls that we should be getting to, all of a sudden we were limiting our range and showing up late. Not a pretty picture.”

Kyle Windschitl began his monster of a day with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third before notching a double in the fifth. However, his extra-base hits were the lone highlights in the first game as Mankato ran away with the five-inning contest.

Matt Mielke took the loss in 3 1/3 innings, during which he threw 93 pitches and allowed 10 runs, eight earned on eight hits. Post 7 committed four costly errors while notching just three hits offensively in Game 1.

Caleb Berg got the win in Game 2 in three innings pitched. He was pulled in favor of Windschitl, who lasted 3 1/3 before Zach Haala notched the final two outs of the game.

In the second game, Sleepy Eye was in the driver’s seat early in scoring six unearned runs off Reese Melvin, who took the loss in 2 1/3 innings. Mankato fought back, however, and pulled to within four runs before Haala was able to shut the door.

Mankato was able to outhit Sleepy Eye 13-12 in Game 2. But Sleepy Eye was able to make its at-bats count a lot more as Windschitl went 2 for 2 in both games and Nic Helget notched a clutch two-run triple.

“We had a goal coming in that we wanted to get a little more clutch hitting and we were able to do that,” John Mielke said. “We had some guys with multiple RBI, so that was key for us.”

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Game 1

MA 421 61 — 14 13 0

SE 102 00 — 3 3 4

Sernett and Gunther; M Mielke, Haala (4) and C Berg.

W – Sernett (M) 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 62 pitches

L – M Mielke (S) 3 1/3 IP, 8 H, 10 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 93 pitches

Leading hitters – MA: Hashmoto 1-3 3 RBI 2 R 1 BB 1 K 2B, Murray 2-3 1 RBI 2 R 1 BB, Fogal 2-3 3 R 1 HP, Miller 1-4 2 RBI 1 R 1 K, Beckel 2-4 1 RBI 2 R 2 K 2B, Gunther 3-4 2 RBI 2B; SE: Haala 1-3 1 R 1 K 2B, Windschitl 2-2 2 RBI 1 R 2B HR.

Game 2

SE 033 332 0 — 14 12 4

MA 001 500 4 — 10 13 4

C Berg, Windschitl (4), Haala (7) and M Mielke; Melvin, Murray (3), Turner (4), Kleist (7) and Gunther.

W – C Berg (S) 3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 64 pitches

L – Melvin (M) 2 1/3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 46 pitches

Leading hitters – SE: N Helget 2-5 2 RBI 1 R 1 K 3B, Woitas 1-4 3 RBI 1 K, M Mielke 1-3 2 RBI 3 R 1 BB 1 HP, Brinkman 2-4 1 RBI 1 R, Salfer 1-2 2 RBI 1 R, Windschitl 2-2 1 RBI 2 R 1 BB 1 HP; MA: Hashimoto 1-5 2 RBI 1 R, Turner 1-5 2 RBI 1 K, Beckman 3-4 1 RBI, Miller 2-3 1 R, Beckel 2-2 1 RBI 2 R 1 BB 2B, Melvin 2-4 2 RBI 1 R.