File photo by Jake McNeill New Ulm Junior Legion Gold’s Josh Forstner delivers a pitch during the DI Sub-State G Junior Legion Baseball Tournament title game against Marshall on July 26, 2025, at Mankato East’s Wolverton Field.

BLOOMINGTON — For a team that spent most of the season ranked first or second in the Minnesota Legion Baseball/SCHEELS Top 20 Rankings, the New Ulm Junior Gold making their second consecutive trip to the junior legion state tournament quickly became an expectation.

That expectation was shared by New Ulm fans, parents, coaches and players, but it didn’t mean it was a guarantee. Playing in the Sub-State G Tournament, New Ulm rolled New Prague 12-2 in five innings, topped Marshall 5-3 in a semifinals game and then cruised by Marshall again 11-1 in five innings in the Sub-State G championship game to punch their second consecutive state ticket. This year’s state tournament will return to Bloomington and see New Ulm take on Eden Prairie (25-7) in the first round at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Red Haddox Field.

While the Junior Gold 10-runned two teams in the Sub-State G Tournament as the No. 1 seed, the tournament didn’t come without some early adversity. The closest game in that sub-state tournament came in the first round when New Ulm took on eighth-seeded Hutchinson and narrowly avoided an upset with a 3-2 win.

“What I can say for sure is it was a weird night, it was the one seed versus the eight seed and things just couldn’t go our way,” Anderson said. “We couldn’t get an extra hit, we couldn’t get our bunts down, we couldn’t do situational things right. And we really worked on, as a team, talking about how important the situational things, the bunting, the stealing, the defensive situational stuff, just the little things that, regardless of your skillset, you can do. We weren’t doing a good job that night.”

Quick to move on and get back to playing how they had played all season, the Junior Gold got back on track the rest of the tournament on their way to another sub-state title.

“After that they really clicked it in gear and they just didn’t look back,” Anderson said. “To be honest with you, our sub-state, there is only one team with a losing record. It was the most difficult sub-state that I could find in the state as far as wins and loss records go.

“I think a lot of our teams in our sub-state don’t lose a lot of kids to club ball, where other areas in other parts of the state, they lose a lot of kids to club ball, so I couldn’t be more proud of the kids. They dug their heels in and really showed everyone who they were.”

Who the Junior Gold are a 23-3 team who have played all facets of the game well this year, led by a deep and talented pitching staff.

Josh Forstner, who earned the win on the mound against Marshall in the Sub-State G title game, leads New Ulm in innings pitched this year with 32. He is 5-0 with a team-best .22 ERA and 26 strikeouts. Candon Briggs is also 5-0 on mound this the year for New Ulm with 1.581 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 31 innings of work.

Tanner Backer has pitched 30 1/3 innings for New Ulm with a 3-2 mark, a 1.15 ERA and team-high 41 strikeouts. The left-hander is expected to start for New Ulm against Eden Prairie.

Add in Collin Forstner (4-0, 2.63 ERA), Mitchell Hopp (2-0, 3.50 ERA), Levi Hopp (2-1, 1.20 ERA) and Hunter Larson (1-0, 1.62 ERA) and the New Ulm mound crew is solid.

“When it comes to the baseball side of things, our pitching depth is pretty high level,” Anderson said. “We run seven, eight deep. No matter the tournament, we’ll never run out of pitching. That’s our biggest baseball strength, but I would say our biggest strength as ballplayers is this team is so selfless.

“Every game, only nine players play, but I couldn’t be more proud of in each of these games when the four players that aren’t playing on this team, they are engaged and they are still in the game. They’re looking for tells from the pitcher, they’re looking to try to pick the other coach’s signs, they’re engaged and when they get the opportunity to play, the person that they are replacing in the lineup is just completely selfless. This group of kids is one of the most selfless groups I’ve ever had.”

As good as the pitching is, New Ulm is no slouch at the plate. Led by Alex Portner, who is hitting a team-high .403, also has a team-high 34 runs scored and a team-high 26 steals to go with 14 RBIs.

Evan Blekestad is hitting .390 with 14 RBIs, while Backer is hitting .368 with a team-high 19 RBIs and Briggs is hitting .346. Larson is hitting .339, while Levi Hopp is the sixth hitter hitting over .300 for New Ulm with a .338 batting average.

As for Eden Prairie, who beat Hastings on Sunday 5-4 to win the Sub-State C title, Anderson said every team is tough this time of year and he’s more focused on getting the same play he’s seen from his players throughout much of this season.

“We had a couple kids up there watching that game on Sunday and it sounds like they play good, sound baseball, they bunt well and do stuff like that,” Anderson said. “But the truth is, and I tell all the boys this in every team that I have, I say this same thing, I say, ‘There’s only one team that we play every time that we take the field and that’s ourselves.’

“We’re not too concerned about who the opponent is, what they are, how big they are, how fast they are, we just care about how we carry ourselves and how we approach and play the game.”