But when the second-seeded Marshall Mudcats chipped away at that lead for six unanswered runs, it became up to right-handed reliever Caleb Forstner to help Gold hold on for the win. With a runner on first and two outs, Forstner turned a 1-2 count on Shep Jensen into a swinging strikeout to win 8-6 and punch the Gold’s ticket to the state legion tournament for the first time since 2019.

Forstner earned the save in two innings of work, allowing one run while striking out two.

After a fly ball from Marshall’s Clay Jones went into shallow left field in the seventh, Gold left fielder Parker Neubauer made a running and face-first diving attempt at the ball. While the ball found Neubauer’s glove originally, the impact on landing jarred the ball loose and allowed Jones to reach with one out. A fielder’s choice got Jones out at second and allowed Tyson Louwagie to take first, bringing up Jensen. After a few pitches, Forstner delivered the game-ender to his catcher Kyle Albrecht.

“It’s really nice when you can trust the defense, but I just threw a fastball there,” Forstner said. “Just tried to throw it by him and I thought I could get him, either a ground ball or a strikeout.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Legion Gold’s Dirk Haynes hurdles Marshall’s Andrew Stelter on his way to the plate during the DI Sub-State 2 Legion Baseball Tournament title game Saturday at Johnson Park.

Forstner did indeed get him and the Gold got to relish in their Sub-State 2 title win as the overlooked underdogs.

“No one really paid attention to us until we were 2-0, 3-0,” Albrecht said.

Gold’s Sub-State 2 title journey started with a first-round win over No. 4 New Prague on Wednesday. Gold then beat top-seeded Mankato American on Thursday to earn a matchup with Marshall Thursday night, with a guaranteed spot in the finals on the line. New Ulm won that game 6-4 and moved on to a game against Mankato National on Friday.

While National beat Gold 6-4, it was Gold’s first loss of the double-elimination tournament and the win over Marshall Thursday guaranteed them a spot in the finals. By defeating New Ulm, however, National earned a semifinals game with Marshall on Saturday morning, which Marshall won 9-7 to move on to the winner-take-all game with Gold.

Ultimately, Gold got hot when they needed to most and celebrated at the end of Saturday as a result.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Legion Gold’s Parker Neubauer slides into home safely and beats the tag by Marshall catcher Levi Maeyaert during the DI Sub-State 2 Legion Baseball Tournament title game Saturday at Johnson Park.

Jake Finstad got the start for Gold, going five innings and allowing eight hits and three walks for five earned runs while striking out three.

Marshall started Andrew Stelter on the mound, who went 1 2/3 innings and took the loss. He allowed two hits and five walks for seven runs, five earned, while striking out one. Logan Phillippe pitched four innings in relief of Stelter, allowing three hits and three walks for one earned run while striking out one, while Jones pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, not allowing any hits, walks or runs and striking out one.

Gold got its first run of the game in the first inning on a delayed double steal attempt. Zach Hubbard walked to lead off, was sacrifice bunted to second by Colin Anderson and took third on a passed ball. Finstad walked and after a strikeout had two outs in the inning, Finstad took off for second as Hubbard headed home. Finstad was tagged out at second, but not before Hubbard crossed home plate safely, giving Gold an early 1-0 lead.

Then came a six-run second inning for Gold. Dirk Haynes was hit by a pitch with one out and walks to Ethan Thompson and Neubauer filled the bases for Forstner. Forstner chopped a short single in front of the plate, which was fielded by catcher Levi Maeyaert, who was unable to throw it home to Stelter in time. Haynes had to hurdle Stelter on his way to the plate but did so successfully to make it a 2-0 game.

A Hubbard single made it 3-0 for New Ulm before Anderson grounded out to score Neubauer and bring up Finstad, who walked to fill the bases for Ben Alfred, hitting in the No. 4 spot in place of injured slugger Elliot Schabert.

Alfred got a hold of a middle-away fastball and drove it into center field to clear the bases for a 7-0 Gold lead.

“Going into the game it’s usually always the same, no matter where you are you can have a big at-bat at some point,” Alfred said. “And I feel comfortable with this team. Whoever’s hitting, I feel comfortable if they’re hitting 9 hole or if they’re hitting 1. I think we’ve just got a good lineup through and through.”

Gold made it 8-0 in the third when Forstner singled in Neubauer.

That big lead took a little pressure off Gold in all areas of the game.

“For us, that just meant that we could get outs and give up some runs in between it, so we were going to take the outs over the runs,” Albrecht said.

Despite the big deficit, however, the Mudcats’ offense came to life in the bottom of the third.

Stelter singled to lead off the inning, but Finstad got back-to-back flyouts to put pressure on. Maeyaert singled to keep the inning alive for Liam Kruse, who singled in Stelter, bringing up power hitter JR Vierstraete. Vierstraete got a hold of a pitch he liked and sent it over the wall in left-center field for a three-run homer to make it an 8-4 game.

Marshall added a run in the fifth on another RBI from Vierstraete, this time a single, and then made it 8-6 in the sixth when Eli Weedman doubled in Stelter, who finished the game going 3 for 4.

But Gold’s big rally early was enough damage to do the trick in the end.

Despite being the fifth seed, Gold got hot when it mattered and a season full of ups and downs had a big up on Saturday.

“We were used to playing good teams and down to the wire all season long,” Gold head coach Curt Forbrook said. “So some of that is they were just ready for the moment, and I mean they wanted it. We put our pitching together and I guess they just delivered. I didn’t do a whole lot, they did all the work.”

Forstner, who led the Gold bats with his 2-for-3 day at the plate, said Saturday’s title win was due to playing their best baseball at the right time.

“It’s awesome, we started playing our best ball in this tournament actually,” Forstner said. “Being the five seed, it puts pressure on the other teams when we’re winning and they’re the higher seed than us.”

Now, Gold (16-10) awaits the state tournament, which takes place from July 31-Aug. 3 in St. Michael, while Marshall ends its season 15-11.