The Mankato Nationals collected five of their eight hits of the game in the fifth inning for five runs and went on to top New Ulm Gold 6-4 in the DI Sub-State 2 American Legion Baseball Tournament at Johnson Park on Friday.

Mason Schreiber got the win for the Nationals. He went 6 1/3 innings and allowed eight hits. He struck out four. Ben Hoehn pitched the final 2/3 innings and recorded a save.

Zach Hubbard took the loss for Gold. He went the distance and allowed eight hits.

Charlie Hudrik and Gavin Torvick each had two hits for Mankato.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Legion Gold’s Elliot Schabert hauls in a fly ball during a DI Sub-State 2 Legion Baseball Tournament game against Mankato National on Friday at Johnson Park.

Colin Anderson had three hits for Gold, with Jake Finstad driving in two runs.

Despite the loss — Gold’s first in the tournament — New Ulm advances to the Sub-State 2 title game at approximately 12:30 p.m. at Johnson Park. Gold clinched a spot in the finals with the win over Marshall on Thursday night.

Gold will play the winner of the 10 a.m. game between the Nationals and Marshall, which defeated Mankato American 5-0 on Friday.

“We had that one bad inning and Elliot (Schabert) getting hurt in that same inning took a little steam away from us for a little bit,” Gold head coach Curt Forbrook said. “But we recovered enough to win the game — we just could not get that key hit.”

The Nationals took a 1-0 lead on Hubbard and Gold in the top of the second on doubles from Torvick and Colten Bahl.

But New Ulm responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning.

Kyle Albrecht walked and Ben Alfred reached on an infield single.

A Dirk Haynes sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position. An Ethan Thompson sacrifice fly and a Hubbard RBI single gave Gold a 2-1 lead.

However, the Nationals replied with five runs in the top of the third to take a lead that they would not give up.

Jayden Knutson led off with a double and Hudrlik singled. Two singles, an Avery Matejek double and a costly Gold infield error had National up 6-2.

It was Matejek’s double where Schabert and Ethan Thompson collided with Schabert departing the game with a lower leg injury.

“Our errors have been better lately but sometimes it is just baseball too,” Forbook said. “Zach pitched good enough to win tonight — he pitched very well.”

Gold cut the lead to 6-3 in the fourth inning on a fielder’s choice and a Finstad RBI single.

New Ulm mounted a big threat in the bottom of the seventh when Anderson singled and took second on a wild pitch. He took third on a balk. He came home on a Finstad single to cut the lead to 6-4.

That brought in Hoehn on the mound. He issued a walk to Logan Mielke before a fielder’s choice and a strikeout and a groundout ended the game.

“We are fine,” Forbrook said. “We had chances and these guys do not quit. We are fine. We have Finstad and Caleb Forstner ready to go (Saturday).”

A win on Saturday would give New Ulm their first Second District crown since 2019.