Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Junior Gold’s Ethan Blekestad fields a grounder during a Junior Upper Midwest Classic baseball game with Harrisburg on Friday night at Johnson Park.

NEW ULM — New Ulm Junior Legion scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning to jump-start a 16-4 win over Harrisburg, South Dakota Friday in the Junior Upper Midwest Classic at Johnson Park.

The game was stopped after 4 1/2 innings because of the 10-run lead rule

Candon Briggs got the win for Gold. He went four innings and allowed four runs on seven hits. Four of the Harrisburg runs and six of its seven hits came in their second inning.

Landon Backtell took the loss for Harrisburg. He went 2/3 of an inning and allowed seven runs on three hits but issued three walks.

Tanner Backer had two hits for New Ulm, with Hunter Larson driving in three runs. Alex Portner, Briggs and Backer each had two RBIs.

New Ulm head coach Mike Anderson said that his team took advantage of 14 walks and one hit batter in the game.

“They were not throwing a lot of strikes, and they were not holding runners on base.” Anderson said. “This was a good get-right game [after a loss to Mankato East Thursday].”

That led to six stolen bases in the first inning alone and eight in the shortened contest.

And when Harrisburg pitchers did throw strikes in that first inning, New Ulm bats were there as it collected five of their seven hits in that first inning.

An Eli Anderson groundout gave New Ulm a 1-0 lead before singles from Backer and Levi Hopp (with two stolen bases and two wild pitches thrown in) made it 3-0. A two-run double from Larson upped the lead to 5-0. An Alex Portner two-run single and a Briggs base hit had Gold up 8-0.

Harrisburg plated four runs in the top of the second.

But Gold would score three runs in the third without the aid of a hit using a walk, a hit batter and an error for an 11-4 lead.

New Ulm then scored five runs in the fourth on just two hits and an error — and six walks — for a 16-4 lead.

“I was super-proud of this group to come back today,” Anderson said. “We did not swing at bad pitches and when we got a good pitch to hit we hit it.”

Junior Gold, now 1-1 in the Classic, meets Osseo Saturday at 12:30 at Johnson Park.

“Super-happy with our play overall in the tournament,” Anderson said.

Anderson said that Mitchell Hopp or Colin Forstner are on the docket to pitch Saturday.