The Eagles (22-4) dropped their first game of the day on Friday to Rocori (22-5) 5-0 and fell to the third-place game against Alexandria (16-8) later that evening as a result. They then ended their season with a dominant 8-2 win over Alexandria to take third in the Class AAA State Baseball Tournament at Siebert Field.

It’s going to be a tougher challenge for the Eagles to get back to state next year as they lose 12 seniors.

New Ulm head coach Kevin Briggs said that he was still proud of his team’s performance all year and is confident that the younger players will be able to step up next season.

“Twelve seniors that have been with me for four years now, and yeah, we’re going to miss them,” Briggs said. “It’s going to be tough, but we’re New Ulm baseball. We’ll go back into the farm system, we’ll bring up some more talent and we’ll make a run every year.”

In the third-place game against Alexandria, New Ulm looked much improved defensively after committing five errors in their semifinal game against Rocori earlier in the day. The Eagles got five consecutive hits against Alexandria in the fourth inning after an error to take a 4-1 lead.

First, Tyler Roufs tied things up after his RBI-double down the right-field line scored Jaden Domeier. After a base hit by Braden Zimmerman scored Roufs, Ryley Hansen and Keaton Knaak each added a single of their own. Hunter Ranweiler then drove in two on a base hit up the middle.

New Ulm added another four runs in the fifth after Sam Berg started the inning off on a triple down the line in right. The Eagles got an RBI each from Roufs and Hansen and two RBIs from Knaak after a triple.

Roufs, Hansen, Knaak and Berg led the Eagles against Alexandria with two hits each. New Ulm had 12 total hits against Alexandria.

“After Game 1 [on Friday], there wasn’t any pressure anymore,” Briggs said. “So they were able to have fun and were able to get back to playing for each other. That first game was just – the intensity and one play makes a difference. That’s a good life lesson – they’ve got to be perfect every day, not just some days. So Game 1 [on Friday] got away from us, but this team’s great, they’re resilient and they got a win.”

In the third-place game for New Ulm, Andrew Peters got the complete-game win on the mound in his final game for New Ulm, giving up just one earned run on three walks and three hits. He struck out two.

In the first game of the day for New Ulm, Rocori took advantage of five New Ulm errors and scored in every inning but the first and sixth. The Spartans’ biggest inning was a two-run third inning where the Eagles committed four errors.

Tylor Schroeder added the only hit in that inning for the Spartans, an RBI single.

New Ulm had a hit each from Roufs, Peters and Zimmerman against Rocori, while Ranweiler added two hits.

Luke Scheid suffered the loss for the Eagles in five innings of work, giving up six hits, three walks and three earned runs. He struck out two.

Brandon Gill got the complete-game shutout for Rocori with five strikeouts, five hits and three walks allowed.

Despite ending their season with a win, it goes without saying that the Eagles were hoping that final win would have been at Target Field on Saturday.

Regardless of how the season ended, Peters, one of the 12 seniors for New Ulm, pitched well to end his final year with the Eagles and was proud of how Friday ended. He said that he hopes it will inspire the younger players on the team for next year.

“Getting third place will set the bar higher for the guys below us because we wanted to go to Target Field in the championship game,” Peters said. “But we made it to the third-place game and won it. I hope that sets the bar higher for the future.”

Peters was emotional after the game when realizing that for he and 11 others on the team, their New Ulm High School baseball chapter was over.

“I’ve been playing with these guys since I can remember — every single one of them,” Peters said. “And I’m going to miss every single one of them. There’s no one I’d rather play ball with.”