Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm VFW Silver’s Elijah Rieser crosses home plate for a run during a VFW baseball game against Mankato VFW East Tuesday at Mueller Park.

NEW ULM — New Ulm VFW Silver dropped both games of a VFW baseball doubleheader against Mankato VFW East Tuesday at Mueller Park, but the second game showed an improvement from the first one for Silver.

“First game [we needed to work on our] attitude,” New Ulm head coach Mark Grossmann said. “We came out flat. We didn’t pull out of it, we were just flat. They weren’t, and that was the difference in the game. I couldn’t get them out of the flatness. I didn’t do the right job in that, so that didn’t help. That was the first one. Second one, we just got beat.

“We played better, we played with emotion, we played with some heart. We fought back right up to the bitter end, and sometimes that’s baseball. You play hard, you play a pretty decent game, we just lost. They made a couple really nice plays that kept us off the scoreboard. That one’s not so bad. I can live with that one pretty easy. The first one hurt a little bit.”

East won 7-1 in the first game and 3-1 in the night frame. The second game of the night was five innings.

“I think the thing you take away from a doubleheader like this is that it absolutely shows your mental approach, mental attitude makes a difference in how you perform,” Grossmann said. “I know as a 15-year-old I certainly struggled with that as well. But I think it’s a chance for them to get a real good look. We were flat, we’re emotionally not in the game and we got spanked the first game. The second game we played hard, and we were in it until the very last pitch. I think it’s just a good learning experience for the kids.”

Alex Portner took the loss for Silver in Game 1, striking out two while allowing five earned runs on six hits in four innings. Lane Ruch pitched three innings in relief, striking out five while allowing two hits. At the plate, Levi Hopp had a hit and Jaxon Hage had a hit and an RBI.

Hopp took the loss in Game 2, striking out six while allowing one earned run on four hits in four innings. At the plate, Elijah Rieser had a hit and a run scored while Eli Anderson had a hit.

In Game 2, Silver scored first in the first inning. Rieser reached first on a hit by pitch, then stole second and made it to third on a groundout. He then took home on a wild pitch to make it 1-0.

Hopp and the New Ulm defense started hot as well, with Hopp striking out four of the first six batters he faced in two perfect innings. Mankato got on the board in the third, scoring two runs with a triple, and another on a wild pitch.

New Ulm loaded up the bases in the top of the fifth, with Crosby Batt and Jeff Kral walking and Rieser reaching on a fielder’s choice, but a groundout ended the game without another score.

Silver will host Sleepy Eye at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Johnson Park.