Both hits were solo home runs, with the second putting an end to a marathon game in the 18th inning as the Brewers defeated the Princeton Panthers 3-2 in a Class B Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament game.

The win moves the Brewers on to a state quarterfinals game against the Foley Lumberjacks at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Brownton.

Nissen’s first home run came in the seventh inning to get the Brewers into the hits and runs column, but his second home run was a memory maker as it capped off the four-hour, 20-minute game with a win for his team.

“They say when you hit a home run and square the ball up, you don’t really feel it leave the bat and that’s exactly what both of those felt for me tonight, so it was more so a relief that the game was finally over more than anything,” Nissen said.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Fairmont draftee Spencer Chirpich gets high fives from New Ulm Brewers players after he got out of one of 12 innings in relief on Sunday.

The Brewers wouldn’t have been in the situation they were in, however, if not for another powerful swing off the bat of Andrew Peters, who had a solo homer of his own to right field in the ninth to keep the season alive.

Big hits aside, New Ulm has a lot of thanks to give to Fairmont Martins draftee Spencer Chirpich, who finished the game pitching 12 innings in relief of starter Mitch Bockenstedt. Chirpich, expected to get some relief time on Sunday, but he got more time on the field than he expected, which was the case for every player in the game.

“Just as the draftee coming in, getting outs, putting up zeros, giving the offense a chance to win, that was really my goal coming into the game,” Chirpich said. “Just getting guys out and hopefully offense could do their thing. We had a couple chances, but Trevor came up with the big one right there.”

Chirpich finished his 12 innings of work allowing just three hits and one walk for no runs while striking out nine. He threw 136 pitches, 93 for strikes. Bockenstedt’s opening six innings saw him allow five hits and two walks for two runs, one earned, while striking out three with 91 pitches thrown.

Damon Rademacher took the loss for Princeton in four innings of relief, allowing two hits and one run while striking out 10. Mason Beltrand got the start and pitched five hitless innings for the Panthers, allowing four walks while striking out five before being relieved in the sixth by Kevin Rahe. Rahe allowed four hits and three walks for two earned runs while striking out five.

Chisago Lakes draftee Reed Marquardt pitched 4 1/3 innings in relief for Princeton and gave up two hits and four walks while striking out eight.

Princeton scored right away in the first when Rademacher hit a line-drive single to score Tanner Kinney, who reached on a one-out error. The Panthers made it a 2-0 game in the fifth on a sac fly off the bat of Nolan Spence to scored Eli Gibbs, who singled earlier with one out.

In the bottom of the seventh, Nissen hit his first home run to right-center field to put the Brewers on the board.

In the bottom of the ninth, Peters wasted little time tying the game as he led off with his own solo homer.

Little did anyone know a doubleheader of sorts was in the making.

The Brewers stranded nine runners in the extra frames and 17 total in the game, getting a runner to third in the 12th and 14th innings. But Nissen saw enough in the bottom of the 18th as his one-out homer ended the game.

“I was struggling a little bit throughout the season,” Nissen said. “I haven’t hit a long ball yet this summer. I wasn’t too far off with some swings, but I just wanted to put a good swing on the ball.”

While his homers were ones to celebrate, Nissen credited his pitchers for keeping the Brewers in the game.

“Huge shoutout to Spencer, he threw a hell of a game,” Nissen said. “Bock found his groove after a little bit of a struggle early on, but it was a hell of a game for Spencer to go out there and pitch a complete-game shutout the second half of this game.”

As for Chirpich, he wasn’t interested in taking much credit.

“Just going in there to throw strikes,” Chirpich said. “[Ayden] Jensen worked well behind the dish, defense made some plays, got out of some jams and ended up with a walk-off home run from Trevor.”

Nissen finished the game 3 for 8 at the plate, while Colten Schaefer was 2 for 7.

Cameron Jensen led the Panthers at the plate, going 3 for 7.