File photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm VFW Silver pitcher Ayden Menk pitches during a recent home game at Johnson Park.

NEW ULM — New Ulm Silver defeated St. James 11-7 on Wednesday at Mueller Park in a VFW baseball game.

Kollin Anderson started the game with an infield single for St. James. Max Westman’s infield single brought Anderson in for a 1-0 St. James lead.

Silver answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first inning. Graham Glaser reached on an error. He scored later on a wild pitch to tie it at 1-1.

Caleb Forstner singled. He scored later on Ben Alfred’s sacrifice which gave Silver its first lead at 2-1.

The bottom of the second inning was a big one for Silver as it scored five runs on three hits and sent 11 batters to the plate. Silver’s Colin Anderson reached on an error.

Silver put on a hit-and-run play. Jaxon Buegler’s single moved Anderson to third base. Anderson scored on a wild pitch for a 3-1 Silver lead.

“That hit-and-run was a key play for us,” Silver head coach Mark Grossman said. “We did the little things that will win ball games.”

Buegler scored on Brock Carlson’s walk. Preston Holberg and Caleb Forstner both walked. With the bases loaded, Hunter Lewandowski singled which brought Holberg and Forstner home. Carlson scored on an infield single by Anderson. It was 7-1 Silver after two innings.

Silver scored three more runs in the bottom of the third inning. Silver took advantage of a walk, and it was able to get two singles to score two of the three runs. The second run scored on a sacrifice. The score was 10-1 Silver.

“We played well,” Grossman said. “We had no mental or physical mistakes, and we hit the ball well.”

St. James responded with four runs of its own in the top of the fourth inning. Two St. James batters reached after being hit by a pitch. Both runners would eventually score. One run scored on John Boelke’s double. Another run scored on dropped third strike and the third run came in by a sacrifice. It was 10-5 Silver.

Ian Brudelie singled to left-center field with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. He scored on Alfred’s infield single, which made it 11-5 Silver.

St. James wasn’t done yet. In the top of the seventh inning, Gage Jones reached on a fielder’s choice. He scored later on Talan Tande’s single to make it 11-6. Reggie Blom then singled and scored on Ethan Liemer’s walk.

Silver’s defense then got two critical outs.

The first out came when Silver third baseman Joey Schugel fielded the ball and tossed it to shortstop Buegler at second base. A few plays later, Carlson fielded the ball in right field and threw it to Anderson at second base for the second out.

Ayden Menk was the pitcher for Silver in the final inning. He was able to strike out St. James’ last batter to secure the victory and pick up the save. Menk entered the contest as pitcher with one out in the top of the fourth inning.

Forstner, Lewandowski, Anderson, Glaser and Brecken Neumann each had two hits for Silver.

Elliot Schabert got the win for Silver in 3 1/3 innings.