Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Legion Gold pitcher Kolton Achman winds up to deliver a pitch during an Upper MIdwest Classic quarterfinals game against Elk River on Saturday evening at Johnson Park in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — Elk River’s offense was connecting from the jump in Saturday evening’s Upper Midwest Classic quarterfinals matchup with New Ulm Legion Gold, and there wasn’t a whole lot Gold could do to stop it.

Behind a 14-hit performance, Elk River rolled to a 12-2 win over Gold to advance to Sunday’s UMC semifinals at Johnson Park.

Elk River will take on Rosetown at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at Johnson Park. The winner of that game will take on the winner of a 12 p.m. Sunday game between Mankato National and Mankato American in the UMC Championship at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Johnson Park.

Elk River broke things open in the fourth behind a seven-run inning that started on an error and ended with six hits.

“Obviously Elk River, very good hitting team,” Gold head coach Curt Forbrook said. “They seemed to hit everything we threw at them. That was the name of the game. One error started it, it didn’t kill us, though, it was just the hits. They earned the win and they got it.”

Elk River got a pair of doubles in the first to lead 1-0, with Brett Groebner’s double starting the hitting clinic and Andrew Palm’s double driving in Groebner. Groebner led the Elk River bats in the win as he went 4 for 4 with three RBIs.

Elk River took a modest 2-0 lead in the third after TJ Reilly singled in Groebner. Gold tied it in the bottom of the inning, however, with Landon Barstad’s leadoff single getting things going. A bunt by Luke Suess was popped up for an out, but Jake Finstad picked his teammate up by dropping down a perfect bunt single to move Barstad up a base and reach safely himself. Ben Alfred’s sac bunt moved both runners up before Logan Mielke walked to load the bases. Ethan Thompson then dumped a pitch into left-center for a two-run single to tie the game at 2-2.

Caleb Forstner got the start for New Ulm and went 3 1/3 innings. He allowed five hits and a walk for six runs, four earned, before being relieved by Blaine Olson in the fourth. Blaine Olson had the tall task of entering with the bases full and one out, but Simon Olson made things even tougher by sending a pitch to the fence in deep left field. The hit originally appeared to be caught but was ruled a hit, allowing a run to score and everyone else to take a bag.

A bunt turned into an RBI single for Bentley Casey after no fielder was covering first. Groebner singled in another two runs and a sac fly by Reilly made it 7-2. Palm’s second RBI double of the game made it 8-2 before Luke Suess entered to pitch.

Suess allowed an RBI single to left by Tim Johnson before a groundout stopped the bleeding with the score 9-2. Suess pitched 1 1/3 inning and allowed two hits for two runs before Kolton Achman entered in the sixth.

Achman, one night removed from pitching 4 1/3 innings in a loss to Dassel-Cokato, allowed three hits and two walks for one run in his two innings of work. He struck out one.

With playoffs beginning in a few short weeks, Gold’s tournament highs and lows are revealing more and more for Forbrook.

“We’ve definitely, the last two weeks, improved a lot,” Forbrook said. “We’re getting there, we’re coming and these guys are working hard. Overall, I’m happy, you don’t like to end a tournament on this, but I think we’re getting a better baseball team every day.”

As for the rest of the UMC, Forbrook said all four of the remaining teams have a good chance to win the tournament, but he said it’ll come down to who has enough pitching left.