By Jeff Meder

Journal Sports Writer

GAYLORD — The New Ulm Eagles defeated Belle Plaine 8-4 on Tuesday in the Section 2A baseball elimination bracket finals at Walsh Field on Thursday.

In order to qualify for the state tournament, the Eagles must win two games on Thursday against Sibley East. The first game will begin at 5 p.m., and if necessary, a second game will follow shortly after the conclusion of the first game.

The Tigers had three problems which led to their demise. They had four errors, walked four batters and they stranded nine runners.

Maddox Mortensen drew a walk in the bottom of the first inning to put a New Ulm runner on. Carter Lang’s single scored Mortensen for the Eagles’ first run. Lang scored when Jaden Miller was hit by a pitch. New Ulm led 2-0.

Jace Schaefer reached on an error to start the bottom of the second inning and scored on a sacrifice for a 3-0 Eagles lead.

Belle Plaine responded with four runs of its own in the top of the third inning. The Tigers sent nine batters to the plate during the inning.

Four singles, a double, an error and a hit batter helped them regain the lead at 4-3.

The Eagles answered with four runs of their own in the bottom of the third inning. It was a wild inning. Up to this point, New Ulm had only one hit. The Eagles came up with four singles in the inning to result in them regaining the lead of 7-4.

Belle Plaine had two singles in the top of the fourth inning, but the Eagles responded with good defense and calm pitching by Carter Lang.

Miller hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth inning and advanced to second base on Lang’s sacrifice. He then scored on a Mortensen single.

Jake Brandenburg walked in the top of the sixth for the Tigers. Ted Hohn then hit the ball for the Tigers, but the Eagles’ defense shined by turning that into a double play. That play squashed any momentum that Belle Plaine thought it had.

Lang was the winning pitcher for the Eagles. He pitched seven innings and gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk. He had seven strikeouts also and hit two batters with pitches.