By Jim Bastian

Journal Sports Writer

SLEEPY EYE — New Ulm Brewers right-hander Mitch Bockenstedt threw seven innings of four-hit, shutout ball and the Brewers downed the Essig Bluejays 5-0 Saturday in a Region 2C Amateur Baseball Tournament game.

Bockenstedt struck out six in his seven-inning stint and did not allow a hit after the third inning.

Ethan Stade pitched the final two innings in relief and did not allow a hit.

Sam Hansen took the loss for the Bluejays. He went the distance and allowed nine hits while striking out four.

Hunter Ranweiler had four hits for the Brewers and Cole Ranweiler added three hits.

Hunter Ranweiler had a double, while Cole Ranweiler had a double and triple. Trevor Nissen had two RBIs for New Ulm.

Essig now faces Fairfax at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Johnson Park in New Ulm in a win-or-go-home game, while the Brewers are off until next Saturday at 4:30 p.m. when they play Hanska at Johnson Park.

“Every time we face pitchers like [Hansen], we tend to push a little bit,” Brewers manager Al For said. “Sam pitched good — he only walked one of our guys — and it takes a while for us to make adjustments and we did.”

Hansen, who had gotten the win earlier over the Brewers in a 9-8 Tomahawk East League win on July 10, held New Ulm scoreless until the bottom of the fifth. Hunter Ranweiler led off with a single to center, his third single of the game, and stole second. Cole Ranweiler legged out a one-out bunt single and swiped second, putting runners on second and third with one out. Hansen got the second out of the inning on a strikeout before he faced Nissen for the third time.

In Nissen’s two previous at-bats, he grounded into a bases-loaded, inning-ending double play in the first and another groundout in the fourth inning.

But this time Nissen got some payback, driving a two-run single to center field.

“That got the monkey off of our back,” Flor said as New Ulm had stranded six runners on base in the first four innings. “That was huge — we needed that.”

The Bluejays mounted their last scoring threat of the game in the sixth when they put a runner on base on a Brewers error. But the second double play of the game by New Ulm ended the threat and Bockenstedt’s strong performance in the game.

“We made some adjustments with the pitch selection — where we located it — and Mitch is really good at being able to hit locations,” Flor said.

New Ulm added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh on a Cole Ranweiler double, an RBI triple from Andrew Peters and an error.

A Colton Schaefer single and a Hunter Ranweiler double — his fourth hit of the game off of Hansen — made it a 5-0 contest in the eighth.

“He keeps batters off balance,” Hunter Ranweiler said. “We made adjustments to him as the game went on. Honestly in the past, I have kind of struggled against Sam — you go up there and try to get the ball in play. If you get a hit, you get a hit.”