After New Ulm stranded a runner in scoring position in both of the first two innings, Owen Castleman’s two-run double in the third lit the fuse. With four runs in the third, three in the fourth and two more in the fifth, the Eagles flew away with a 10-0 victory over Waseca in a Big South Conference baseball game.

Tanner Backer’s RBI single ended the game in the fifth inning due to the 10-run lead rule.

Castleman finished the game 1 of 3 with his two-run double and a walk, but he more than held his own on the mound also. The righty earned the five-inning shutout, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out five.

“Just continuing to trust the guys behind me,” Castleman said. “It starts with coach calling the pitch, trusting he’s gonna make the right call, Candon [Briggs] behind the plate, trusting he’s gonna do what he does back there and trusting the guys behind you are gonna make plays. That’s the biggest thing.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm pitcher Owen Castleman delivers a pitch during a Big South Conference baseball game against Waseca on Thursday at New Ulm High School. Castleman earned the shutout in five innings as the Eagles won 10-0.

Avery Wetzel took the pitching loss for Waseca (2-8, 1-6) in four innings, allowing 12 hits and two walks for seven earned runs while striking out two.

Backer finished leading the New Ulm (8-3, 6-2) bats by going 3 for 4, while Levi Hopp was 2 for 2 with two RBIs, Dirk Haynes was 2 for 3 with an RBI and Zach Hubbard was 2 for 3 with two doubles.

Hubbard almost put the Eagles on the board on the second pitch he saw when he pulled a pitch deep to left that the wind carried just left of the foul pole. He ended up getting hit by a pitch two pitches later and was later picked off second, but his next two at-bats were doubles to left, the first hitting off the fence and just missing another potential homer.

“The whole season I’ve been trying to pull the ball, be early, I don’t want to be late and miss it,” Hubbard said. “But he [Wetzel] threw a lot of changeups, too, so I was early on that.”

Designated hitter Jaiden Schafer led Waseca at the plate, going 2 for 2.

After Hubbard was picked off second in the first, Levi Hopp ended up getting to third on a Backer single, but a flyout ended the inning. In the second inning, Haynes singled with one out and Kyle Albrecht singled hard off the glove of Waseca third baseman Owen Honstad with two outs, but Haynes got stuck in a rundown on the play and was tagged out sliding back into second.

While frustrating for Eagles head coach Jeff Ferrell to watch, he knew things would come around for his team sooner than later.

“Even in that first inning when we didn’t score, we had some good at-bats,” Ferrell said. “We hit a ball on a button to third base [in the second] and Dirk gets hung up, that’s kind of a tough play for anybody who’s playing. Hubbard earlier when he got picked off at second base, he was coming but we just maybe got a little too far out, we got caught a little bit there and that’s what they’re supposed to do is pick us off.

“But I think we just continued, we’re very relaxed. We can make mistakes, but as a team we don’t get down on ourselves. And we have really good at-bats, regardless of who’s pitching. … We can have good at-bats, we flush the mistakes and we move on. This team has done that all year long.”

After Hubbard led off the third with a double off the fence in left, Levi Hopp singled him to third before Castleman doubled into left to bring in both runners for a 2-0 New Ulm lead. A Backer single made it 3-0 before Wetzel got back-to-back groundouts to temporarily stop the bleeding. Haynes opened the wound up again for the Bluejays, however, with a single into center field for a 4-0 lead.

Waseca loaded the bases in the fourth on a single, an error and a walk, but Castleman got a swinging strikeout to end the threat.

With New Ulm up 4-0, Castleman said he got an added level of comfort on the mound. He also said his curveball helped him a lot against Waseca.

“Last season I didn’t really throw a curveball much and I implemented that quite a few times today,” Castleman said. “I worked on that pretty good to where I can throw it in a varsity game.”

A walk to Albrecht and double by Hubbard put two on to open the bottom of the fourth inning for Levi Hopp, who singled in both runners for a 6-0 Eagles lead. With two outs in the inning, Candon Briggs doubled in Levi Hopp and Hunter Larson singled in pinch runner Mitchell Hopp for an 8-0 lead.

Mitchell Hopp singled in Albrecht in the fifth and after a walk to Castleman, Backer singled on a liner to center to end the game.

“Our team’s playing well,” Hubbard said. “We’ve got a lot of experience now, a lot of seniors on the team, which we haven’t really had in the past. Last year we lost two or three guys, it’s tough that year, but this year coming in with a big squad, we’ve played together for a while, so we all know each other.”

The Eagles host Holy Family Catholic at 5 p.m. Friday at Mueller Park.