Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Legion’s Colin Anderson leaps for first base during the first game of a legion baseball doubleheader against Marshall Thursday at Mueller Park.

NEW ULM — New Ulm Legion Gold stayed even with Marshall Legion for five innings in Game 1 of a legion baseball doubleheader Thursday at Mueller Park but fell behind to lose the first game. However, New Ulm came back in Game 2 to win 8-7 in nine innings to split the doubleheader.

New Ulm was in a 1-1 tie after five innings of the first game, but a four-run sixth inning put Marshall ahead. New Ulm briefly held a lead 2-1 lead in the second inning of Game 2, but another four-run inning by Marshall in the third gave them the lead. However, New Ulm tied the game 7-7 in the sixth inning, and Kyle Albrecht bunted with Elliot Schabert on first base, and two throwing errors allowed Schabert to go all the way home for the walk-off win.

Liam Kruse earned the win for Marshall, striking out five while allowing one run on three hits. Owen Kesteloot made the start, striking out two and allowing two hits in three scoreless innings. At the plate, Andrew Stelter and Josh Kraft each had two hits and an RBI, with Kraft hitting a home run, while Shep Jensen had a hit, and RBI and two runs scored. Levi Maeyaert added a hit and an RBI.

Colin Anderson took the loss in Game 1 for New Ulm, allowing six runs, five earned, on nine hits in six innings with five strikeouts. At the plate, Anderson was 2 for 3 with an RBI, while Schabert had an RBI.

The teams had to wait until the fourth inning for the first run of the game as both defenses held strong. Anderson singled to lead off the inning, then stole second and advanced to third on an errant throwdown. Schabert capitalized on the runner at third with a groundout RBI to give New Ulm a 1-0 lead.

Marshall quickly struck back, with Jensen walking and taking second on a single from Leyton Wherry. Stelter brought him home on a single of his own to tie the game up

Marshall broke through the low-scoring affair in the sixth as Kraft tripled to start off the inning, then Maeyaert, Jensen and Stelter all picked up RBI singles. Anderson balked twice to score two more runs to make it a 5-1 game. Kraft added a statement home run in the seventh inning to close out the game.

Caleb Forstner earned the win for New Ulm in Game 2, striking out three while in 4 1/3 hitless innings. Jake Finstad pitched four innings, striking out five and allowing six runs, five earned, on eight hits. At the plate, Zach Hubbard was 3 for 5 with two runs cored, while Albrecht and Dirk Haynes had a hit and an RBI.

Kraft struck first for Marshall, singling to bring home Stelter. New Ulm took the lead in the second, with a wild pitch scoring Ben Alfred and Schabert coming home on a sacrifice fly from Luke Mielke. Marshall scored its four runs six hits in the third inning. Marshall added one more run in the fourth as a passed ball made it a 6-1 game.

New Ulm began the comeback in the bottom of the fourth, with a single by Haynes scoring Alfred, then an error put into play by Forstner bringing home Schabert. Marshall got a run back in the fifth as Stelter was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, but New Ulm limited the damage with a flyout ending the inning, then cut the lead to 7-5 as Albrecht drew a walk with bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth. Gold loaded the bases again in the sixth, with Finstad and Schabert both drawing walks to score runs and tie the game at 7-7.

Pitchers got more stingy as the game went into extra innings, with the teams exchanging nine consecutive outs between the teams. Finally, in the bottom of the ninth, Schabert walked to lead off the inning, and as Albrecht put a bunt into play, both the pitcher and right fielder committed throwing errors, allowing Schabert to advance three bases for the win.

New Ulm is the fifth seed in the Sub-State Playoffs that will be held in New Ulm and will play fourth-seeded New Prague at 7 p.m. at Johnson Park.