Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Nick Labat of Sleepy Eye slides into third during a playoff game against Glencoe Saturday at Johnson Park in New Ulm. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

NEW ULM — Sleepy Eye Post 800’s Kyle Domeier was the hero on Saturday against Glencoe with a walk-off RBI single in the eighth inning.

Post 800 defeated Glencoe 3-2 to advance to play New Ulm VFW Gold at noon on Sunday at Johnson Park.

After trailing 1-0 after two innings and not picking up a single hit, Sleepy Eye was off to a slower start than it wanted to be. But after finishing the game with nine hits, Post 800 coach Brandon Streich was glad to see his team turn things around when it mattered.

“We kind of came out a little flat and I think that was because we were here a little early and kind of laid around a little bit,” Streich said. “But once we kind of got going, you saw that we scored a run in each of the last three innings and that was important to kind of keep clawing back and not caving in.”

Dallas Bauer pitched 6 1/3 innings of three-hit ball in a no-decision. He struck out three, while walking nine.

Jacob Berg got the win in relief with 1 2/3 innings pitched after fanning two and not allowing any runs, hits or walks.

Post 800 tied things up at 1-1 in the sixth inning after Berg scored on an RBI single to left by Nathan Walter. In the seventh inning, Glencoe’s Reece Schwirtz scored from third after a balk by Bauer.

Sleepy Eye dug in deep in the bottom of the seventh and tied it up again at 2-2 after a fielders-choice RBI from Jace Marotz scored Domeier, who just beat the tag at home plate. Berg then pitched a 1-2-3 top of the eighth, giving his team a chance to pull off some extra-inning heroics.

Walter took a one-out walk and stole second base successfully in the bottom of the eighth. On the steal of second base, a throwing error into center by Glencoe catcher Michael Waibel allowed Walter to reach third safely.

Domeier then helped Post 800 pick up the big win on a base hit to right that scored Walter from third.

Streich wants his guys to continue playing at a high level for Sunday’s game, but he also wants them to be ready to work on Thursday when districts start.

“Like I just told them in the huddle, ‘we’re not here for second place, but we are also focused on districts,'” Streich said. “So we’re trying to keep this momentum following into districts in Mankato on Thursday.”

Landon Strong was 3 for 4 for Post 800, while Domeier went 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI.