Photo courtesy of Hunter Kral New Ulm Gold’s Jaden Domeier makes a throw from the outfield at the VFW state baseball tournament on Friday in Willmar. Gold finished fourth in the tournament.

WILLMAR — A five-run rally in the seventh was more than enough for Luverne to pull off a come-from-behind win against New Ulm VFW Gold 9-7 on Saturday in an elimination bracket game at the State VFW tournament.

Gold (29-16-1) took fourth in the tournament with the loss.

Alex Hillesheim received the loss for Gold in relief of Braden Zimmerman, who allowed four runs, five hits and two walks in a no-decision. Zimmerman struck out three batters.

Hillesheim pitched three innings, allowing five runs on six hits and a walk. He had two strikeouts.

Luverne had five errors in the game, but with the help of a surging offense late in the game and 11 total hits, the errors didn’t hurt much. Gold committed just two errors in the game, while picking up six hits.

“It was two good teams in the final four in the state and an up and down game,” Gold coach Mike Munce said. “We ended up coming out on the short end.”

Luverne took a quick 1-0 lead in the first after an RBI base hit by Ben Serie, who ended with three RBIs on three hits. Gold took a 2-1 lead after two runs in the second inning, which saw three Luverne errors and just one Gold hit by Mason Cox.

Gold led 4-1 after a two-hit fourth inning, led by an RBI double from Josh Seidl. Seidl had two hits and three RBIs in the game.

Luverne tied things up at 4-4 in the fifth inning, led by RBIs from Declan Beers and Serie. Gold answered back right away, though, in the bottom of the fifth after a pair of RBI singles by Cox and Seidl to lead 6-4.

Luverne took the lead back late in the seventh after four batters in a row reached base. Luverne took one run on an error and the rest on hits to lead 9-6.

Gold added one run back in the bottom of the seventh after another Luverne error, but back-to-back strikeouts for reliever Derek Lundgren ended the game.

Cox was 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored for Gold, while Teddy Giefer scored two runs and added a hit.

Despite the loss, Munce said he was still pleased with his team’s performance and teamwork on the year and was also proud of making it to state.

“The kids came together great,” Munce said. “That’s where we want to finish — the state tournament — and I thought the chemistry really came together at the right time. I’m very happy and pleased with all the kids. It was a successful season.”