Zach Hubbard was the star of Game 1, starting on the mound and delivering a one-hitter for a team that gave up 25 runs in Friday’s pair of tournament games. Hubbard struck out four with no walks in the effort as he was in command the entire game.

“My offspeed, I felt good with it,” Hubbard said. “I was comfortable, so I just kept throwing that. That last inning there it was my main pitch, that’s all I threw. It was a big help to win that game.”

It was New Ulm’s second time taking down Chanhassen in the tournament, as the two teams met in the first round as well. New Ulm had previously been defeated by Chanhassen in the regular season, so getting the pair of wins over Chanhassen was big for New Ulm’s confidence.

“It feels great,” Hubbard said. “We lost that first game, but we knew we had it. We played hard and got the win.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm's Ryan Rathmann makes a throw over to first during a DI Junior Legion State Tournament game Saturday against Chanhassen at Red Haddox Field in Bloomington.

At the plate in Game 1, Kyle Albrecht and Tanner Backer were each 2 for 3, while Dirk Haynes was 1 for 2 with a run scored and an RBI. Cohen Domeier and Hunter Larson each picked up an RBI.

After two scoreless innings to start out the rematch with Chanhassen, Haynes was able to get on base to lead off the third with a walk. After being bunted over to second, he took third on a fielder’s choice bunted into play by Domeier, beating the throw with a slide.

New Ulm added two more runs in the third, with Larson bunting home Backer on a similar play and Haynes doubling to bring home Ryan Rathmann.

While New Ulm’s offense was relatively bottled up for the rest of the game, Hubbard and the defense responded in kind. The lone hit of the game came in the seventh inning, after which a pop up behind the plate and two groundouts to second ended the game.

New Ulm was unable to carry the defensive momentum into Game 2 as it had five errors. Becker scored two in the first, one in the second, three in the third and another in the fourth to take a 7-0 lead. They added an eighth run in the sixth before New Ulm scored two in the bottom of the inning. New Ulm got a third run in the seventh, but it was too little, too late as it fell 8-3.

Larson took the loss for New Ulm, striking out one and allowing four earned runs on four hits and three walks. At the plate, Domeier was 2 for 4 with an RBI, while Larson was 2 for 4. Albrecht was 1 for 2 with an RBI, and Elliot Schabert picked up an RBI as well.

New Ulm finishes out the season with a 27-7-1 record.

Three players from Jr. Gold also were selected by American Legion representatives as members of the 2024 DI Jr. Legion All-State Tournament Team. Hubbard, led by his complete-game one-hitter, was selected, along with Albrecht, who hit .429 with two doubles and four RBIs during the tournament. Backer was also named to the team, hitting .500 with two doubles and two RBIs at the plate and pitching six innings in the first round with six strikeouts.