Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Lucas Suess reaches first base during a nonconference baseball game against Mound Westonka Friday at Mueller Park.

NEW ULM — Mound Westonka left-hander Connor Esposito allowed just two hits through six innings and struck out eight as the White Hawks picked up a 5-3 win over New Ulm Friday afternoon in a nonconference baseball game at Mueller Park.

Blaine Olson took the mound loss for New Ulm (0-2). Olson went 4 1/3 innings and was charged with three runs. He allowed five hits and struck out two.

Kolton Achman pitched the last three innings and allowed two runs.

Jameson Damato and Isiah Walker each had two hits for the White Hawks (1-1).

Lucas Suess and Parker Neubauer had the hits for the Eagles, both coming in the third inning.

“Our pitchers gave us a chance to win,” New Ulm coach Mike Anderson said. “We only had two hits in the game, but we faced a pretty good left-handed arm again. [Esposito] threw hard enough and he had a good breaking pitch, had command of the zone and he kept us off-balance.”

The Eagles took a 2-0 lead over Mound Westonka, scoring single runs in the second and fourth innings without a hit.

Ethan Thompson led off the second with a walk and stole second. He scored on an infield throwing error after a Kyle Albrecht ground ball.

In the fourth, the Eagles plated a run when Albrecht coaxed a lead-off walk and raced to third on an Esposito throwing error to first. He scored on a Zach Hubbard safety squeeze for a 2-0 lead.

But in the fifth, the White Hawks got to Olson and the Eagles for three runs.

Consecutive singles from Cole Drill, Cole Munsterteiger and Damato loaded the bases with one out.

Drill and Munsterteiger scored on a New Ulm infield error. A Bryce Tappen bad-hop single gave the White Hawks a 3-2 lead.

“We had some energy but then we had an error and we got flat,” Anderson said.

That would be enough for the southpaw Esposito as he set down New Ulm in order in the fifth and sixth innings.

And the White Hawks added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh on three singles and the fourth error of the game for New Ulm.

Anderson said that right now it is a learning process for all involved.

“The team is learning how I work and I am learning how they work,” he said. “These players are practicing hard.”

Anderson also said that his team’s strikeouts — 30 in the first two games — is somewhat concerning.

“The first game we can call a mulligan a little bit — we faced two very high-level arms against Hutchinson,” he said. “They struck out 15 against St. Peter. But we have to do a better job of jumping on fastballs. And we have been taking a lot of batting practice. I would like to face a right-handed pitcher who throws 75 miles and hour.”

New Ulm plays at Waseca on Tuesday.