Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm’s Colton Schaefer delivers a pitch in Wednesday’s Section 2AAA baseball elimination bracket game with Waseca at Johnson Park.

NEW ULM — Coming into their Section 2AAA elimination baseball game against Waseca Wednesday afternoon at Johnson Park, New Ulm senior first baseman Nolan Drill said that the Eagles wanted to get their bats going after a 6-2 loss to Marshall on Saturday in the first round of the tournament and being held to just five hits.

“We were kind of dry on the hit column against Marshall and we wanted to go out there, show them that we can hit and put some runs on the board and have fun,” he said.

The Eagles and Drill did just that.

Drill went 4 for 4 at the plate with a walk, two doubles and five RBIs as New Ulm banged out 12 hits to dismantle the Bluejays 14-0.

The game was stopped after five innings because of the 10-run lead rule.

Colton Schaefer got the win for New Ulm. He scattered four Waseca hits and struck out two.

Payton Gehlofff took the season-ending loss for Waseca (3-18). He was charged with six runs in 1 2/3 innings of work

Jaden Domeier, Schaefer and Noah Hauge each added two hits. Schaefer had three RBIs, with Braden Zimmerman driving in two runs.

New Ulm, now 11-11, will play Mankato West, who lost to Hutchinson 10-4, at 10 a.m. Saturday morning at Johnson Park in another elimination game.

“We came out and beat a team we should beat,” Eagles head coach Kevin Briggs said. “We did not have an error today. That helps at playoff time.”

What also helped the Eagles Wednesday were seven Waseca errors in the game, including four in the first three innings when New Ulm grabbed a 9-0 lead and ran with it.

New Ulm scored twice in the first inning when Teagan Kamm legged out a one-out infield single and Drill had his first double. An infield error on a Zimmerman grounder scored Kamm before Drill scampered home on a Schaefer bloop single to right field.

The Eagles pushed four more runs across in the second inning that started off when Evan Wiltscheck reached on an infield error. Hauge followed with a single and Domeier reached on a walk to load the bases.

Drill’s second double of the game scored two more runs before a Zimmerman groundout and another infield error made it a 6-0 New Ulm lead after two innings.

“The first two innings were awesome for us,” Drill said. “We showed them we can hit and we set a tempo for the game and just kept it rolling.”

New Ulm added three runs in both the third ad fourth innings. A two-run Drill single and a Zimmerman groundout made it 9-0 after three innings.

A bases-loaded walk to Cole Ranweiler and a two-run Schaefer single made it 12-0 after four innings.

A wild pitch and an RBI single by Drill in the fifth made it a 14-0 game.

“We get to play more baseball now,” Briggs said. “We will be ready Saturday morning. Colton was efficient today. He only threw 68 pitches.”

Drill said that the bats need to stay hot Saturday.

“We have to come out with some firepower on Saturday,” Drill said. “We know we can win.”