Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye VFW pitcher Mark Anderson pitches during the third inning of Sleepy Eye’s game with New Ulm Junior Legion Gold on Monday at Mueller Park.

NEW ULM — Sleepy Eye VFW’s early lead and two insurance runs in the middle innings was enough to hold off New Ulm Junior Legion Gold 5-2 on Monday at Mueller Park.

Sleepy Eye’s win put the team back into the win column after suffering a pair of close defeats over the weekend to Mankato West, which snapped an eight-game winning streak.

Monday was also the last game for both teams to work out any kinks they had and get their pitchers warmed up before playoffs begin. Sleepy Eye begins Second District VFW playoff action at noon on Thursday at Johnson Park when they meet Lake Crystal, while Junior Gold travels to Marshall to first take on Alexandria Red at 4 p.m. on Wednesday in Division 1, Substate G Junior Legion playoff action at Legion Field.

While Junior Gold picked up seven hits against Sleepy Eye, errors started popping up also, with two runs scoring as a result of two errors. New Ulm also had a tough time getting those that collected hits around to score, stranding eight runners.

Sleepy Eye also had seven hits but allowed just one run to score as a result of one error.

Sleepy Eye had three pitchers see the mound, with Saenz getting the start and going two innings. He allowed three hits and a walk for one earned run and struck out one. Mark Anderson got five strikeouts in four innings of relief, while Nolan Domeier pitched the final inning and had a strikeout.

Taylor Hansen got the start and loss in two innings for New Ulm, giving up five hits and a walk for three earned runs. Levi Franta pitched three innings of relief and had four strikeouts, while Anton Freiderich and Ben Hohensee each pitched an inning, with Hohensee adding a strikeout.

Jonny Petermann led Sleepy Eye at the plate, going 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored.

Junior Gold saw Freiderich go 3 for 3 to lead the way at the plate, while Hansen was 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored.

Sleepy Eye took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a sac fly from Austin Uecker that scored Petermann. Sleepy Eye added two more runs in the second inning on an RBI groundout by Nolan Domeier and an RBI single from Petermann.

New Ulm scored its two runs in the second inning to trail 3-2 after an RBI single from Carter Haala and a bases-loaded walk by Jace Schaefer with two outs.

Nolan Domeier doubled in the fourth to advance Nick Mielke to third before Mielke ended up scoring on an error at first for a 4-2 lead. A base hit by Saenz followed by a throwing error in the fifth inning scored Uecker, who reached with one out on an error, for the final run of the game.