Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Legion Gold’s Cohen Domeier (1) awaits the call at second base during a legion baseball game against Jordan Tuesday at Johnson Park.

By Ari Selvey

aselvey@nujournal.com

NEW ULM — New Ulm Legion Gold’s improved approach at the plate came through in a 10-4 win over Jordan Tuesday in a legion baseball game at Johnson Park.

“We’ve been really talking about approach,” New Ulm head coach Curt Forbrook said. “Guys have been taking better approaches, taking their pitch, really battling with two strikes. And putting balls into play instead of swinging and missing or looking at strike three and things like that. Their quality at-bats are getting better every game. That’s a tribute to them. They’re listening and doing what we’re asking.”

New Ulm scored in five of the seven innings, highlighted by a four-run inning in the fourth to open up the game and give Gold a 8-2 lead.

Dirk Haynes earned the win for New Ulm, striking out four while allowing three runs on seven hits in five innings of work. Blaine Olson pitched two innings of relief, striking out five and allowing one run on one hit. At the plate, Kyle Albrecht was 2 for 2 with a run scored, while Cohen Domeier was 2 for 3 with a run scored. Colin Anderson had a hit, a run scored and an RBI, while Haynes and Olson each had a hit and an RBI.

“We got good starting pitching, number one,” Forbrook said. “That goes a long ways. And we did play pretty good defense, and our bats came alive. We had a lot of guys taking really good at-bats tonight. That was a good recipe for us. Pitching, defense and some good, quality at-bats.”

New Ulm got the scoring going right away with three runs in the first inning. Anderson doubled, then Ben Alfred singled to move him to third. Another single by Ethan Thompson scored Anderson, then a throwing error on the play scored Alfred and brought Thompson all the way to third. Thompson then took home on a bunt by Haynes.

After a scoreless second, Jordan got two run back in the top of the third on two hits and an error. However, New Ulm responded in the bottom of the inning, with a single by Thompson and a double by Haynes putting runners on second and third, then Thompson was able to score on a wild pitch to make it a 4-2 game.

New Ulm’s four-run fourth inning started with a walk from Colin Forstner, then a single from Zach Hubbard. Anderson put a bat on the ball for a sacrifice fly to score Forstner, then Alfred drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Alfred stole second, then Thompson put an error into play that brought home both Hubbard and Alfred. Finally, Thompson took home on a throwing error from the catcher to increase the lead to 8-2.

Jordan scored once in the fifth to cut the lead to 8-3, but New Ulm had a relay to home plate after an error to prevent a second run from scoring and end the inning. New Ulm added two runs on the sixth as Albrecht singled and went all the way home on a wild pitch and a throwing error, then Olsen singled to score Domeier for a 10-3 lead. Jordan managed one more run in the top of the seventh, but Olson collected his fifth strikeout to end the game.

New Ulm (7-8) plays next against St. Peter at home on Thursday. New Ulm will resume its suspended game against Hutchinson at 7 p.m. Monday at Johnson Park. That game was suspended due to rain on July 7.