Sleepy Eye head coach Brandon Streich said that, despite the strong win, he believed the team was even stronger than what it showed today.

“We have high expectations, and with that we hold ourselves to higher standards and hold ourselves accountable,” he said. “I don’t think we played our best today, but we really battled. Landry [Folkens] wasn’t his sharpest today, but he battled and did what he needed to do at the end of the day.”

Post 7 was disciplined at the plate all game, drawing eight walks across the five innings.

“I really liked our approach,” Streich said. “And honestly, the game was a lot closer — I think [Owen] Castleman pitched a lot better than the score indicates. We put him in a lot of tough situations, give credit to our hitters, because I think we fouled off a lot of two-strike counts, made him really work for it. We were a combination of patient and putting the ball in play. We didn’t strike out a lot, fouling off and driving up his pitch count — I thought we did really well.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Junior Legion’s Paxton Johnson throws the ball to first baseman Evan Starke (7) during a junior legion baseball game against Sleepy Eye Junior Legion Tuesday at Sleepy Eye Ballpark.

Folkens earned the win for Sleepy Eye, striking out two and allowing one run on one hit and four walks in five innings. At the plate, Merrick Mathiowetz was 2 for 2 with an RBI and four runs scored, while Karter Haala was 2 for 3 with an RBI and three runs scored. Keeyan Netzke was 1 for 3 with two RBIs.

Castleman took the loss for New Ulm, striking out four and allowing seven runs, three earned, on four hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings. Noah Gode had the lone hit for New Ulm and also collected an RBI.

While both teams put multiple runners on base in the first inning, Sleepy Eye was the team that was able to capitalize, with Jaxon Saenz drawing a walk with bases loaded and Mathiowetz coming home on a passed ball. Sleepy Eye shut things down defensively in the second, retiring the side in order, while the offense put up three more runs, with Haala earning an RBI on a single and Mathiowetz tripling to bring home another run before scoring on an error. New Ulm scored in the top of the third, with Castleman drawing a walk and taking second on a steal before Gode singled him in to cut the lead to 5-1. The New Ulm defense retired the next three Sleepy Eye batters, but Post 7 got things back on track in the fourth, with Netzke doubling to score Mathiowetz and Adam Braulick for a 7-1 lead. An error put into play by Braulick allowed another run to come home in the fifth, then Sleepy Eye drew three consecutive walks with bases loaded to complete the five-inning win.

Sleepy Eye (1-0) plays against St. Clair in Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Stark Ballpark. New Ulm hosts Mankato National in a doubleheader on Tuesday.