GREEN ISLE — The New Ulm Brewers put the ball in play early and often in Saturday’s Class C Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament game against the St. Bonifacius Saints, carrying that to a 12-1 win in seven innings at Irish Yard.

The game ended in seven innings due to the 10-run lead rule.

New Ulm will play the winner of Sunday’s Buckman Billygoats and Fergus Falls Hurricanes game Saturday, Aug. 31, at 1:30 p.m. in Belle Plaine. The Brewers need a win Saturday and then two Sunday to compete in Monday’s championship game.

To 10-run a team in a playoff game is impressive, but it takes a special offense to do that in a state tournament game.

“We stressed all week about how you can’t get anything done if you don’t put the ball in play,” New Ulm manager Al Flor said. “At this tournament, you’re always going to see good pitching. That pitcher threw really well last weekend. There again, we had to try and get a plan and swing early because he attacks the strike zone. And we did that early in the game and we settled down and didn’t get as many hits, but we always have to try to keep our energy up, so scoring right away helps our team and that puts some confidence back in our pitcher.”

That St. Boni pitcher who had a strong showing in the opening weekend of the state tournament against Wanamingo was Michael Barnes. He pitched six innings and allowed just four hits and no walks for two earned runs while striking out five in a 9-4 win against Wanamingo. On Saturday against the Brewers, Barnes ended up completing just three innings as the Brewers hit him early and often.

Barnes finished up allowing nine hits and a walk for eight runs, seven earned, while striking out three.

For the Brewers, it was the right-handed Mitch Bockenstedt called upon to take the mound against the Saints. While he didn’t preserve his shutout, he finished with the win in six solid innings, scattering seven hits and no walks for one unearned run. He struck out six. Left-hander Ethan Stade took over in the seventh and allowed one hit while fanning three.

Bockenstedt finished throwing 95 pitches, 67 strikes.

Bockenstedt allowed a two-out single in the first but promptly forced a groundout to bring his offense up in the bottom of the inning. There, Hunter Ranweiler started the attack with a leadoff double to left. Barnes got J.T. Hoffmann to fly out, but he then hit Cole Ranweiler with a pitch before Zach Hoffmann reached on an error that scored Hunter Ranweiler for a 1-0 lead.

Andrew Peters struck out for the second out, but Ayden Jensen and Wade French both singled in a run for a 3-0 lead before Colten Schaefer hit a grounder that was misfielded for an error to make it 4-0.

An RBI single by Hunter Ranweiler, a two-run J.T. Hoffmann triple and an RBI triple by Cole Ranweiler made it 8-0 in the third. St. Boni sent Brownton draftee Ryan Grams to the mound in the fourth, who pitched a scoreless fourth and fifth inning.

The Brewers got to Grams, however, in the sixth. After St. Boni got a run in top of the sixth on an RBI groundout by Carter Olek, New Ulm got that back and then some in the bottom half of the inning.

After Zach Hoffmann singled in Cole Ranweiler, who singled and took second and third on a pair of wild pitches, Peters got into the batters box looking to end what was then an 0-for-3 night with a hit. He ended his hitless night in a big way by sending a pitch over the fence in right field for a two-run homer and an 11-1 Brewers lead.

New Ulm fans knew a home run by Peters could help put the game away early following a scoreless top of the seventh, but Peters didn’t have that on his mind despite his powerful swing to give his team the 10-run lead.

“Fastball middle of the zone and honestly just trying to put the ball in play and get on base for the guys,” Peters said.

Schaefer singled in Jensen, who doubled to left following Peters’ homer, for the 12-1 lead.

With the big win, New Ulm will return to the third-and-final weekend of the state tournament for the fourth year in a row. After falling short the previous three seasons, Peters was happy with the big win against St. Boni but is hoping for a different finish this year.

“Feels great and let’s just hope [next weekend] is better than last year and that we can keep on rolling,” Peters said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: An extended story with additional comments and photos will be available in Tuesday’s edition of The Journal.