Staff photo by Travis Rosenau The New Ulm Legion Gold’s Zach Hubbard races to third for a triple during an Upper Midwest Classic game against St. Peter on Thursday night at Johnson Park.

NEW ULM — The New Ulm Legion Gold allowed St. Peter to take a quick 2-0 lead in an Upper Midwest Classic game Thursday night, but the Gold had an answer.

That came in the form of 18 unanswered runs.

Led by an eight-run second inning and a seven-run third inning, the Gold racked up 12 hits and had 24 total base runners to rout St. Peter 18-2 on Thursday night at Johnson Park.

The game ended in five innings due to the 10-run lead rule.

Zach Hubbard was 3 for 4 with a triple, two doubles and four RBIs to lead the Gold at the plate, while Kyle Albrecht was 2 for 2 with a double and an RBI, Tanner Backer was 2 for 2 with two RBIs and Hunter Larson was 2 for 4 with a triple and three RBIs. Candon Briggs was also 2 for 4 with an RBI for New Ulm, while Jake Finstad was 1 for 2 with three runs scored.

Josh Forstner earned the pitching win in three innings, allowing four hits and no walks for two earned runs while striking out three. Eli Anderson pitched the final two innings for the Gold in relief and allowed one hit and no walks while striking out three.

A dropped third strike on a wild pitch allowed a St. Peter runner on with one out in the first. Three consecutive singles followed to make it 2-0 St. Peter.

Hubbard’s triple opened the bottom of the first, but two consecutive outs left Larson with a little added pressure. Larson made solid contact on a grounder that led to an error to score Hubbard and have New Ulm down 2-1.

The Gold found their groove in the second inning, with Albrecht and Backer singling to open the inning. Levi Hopp reached on an error that scored Albrecht before a sac bunt by Evan Blekestad moved Backer to third and Hopp to second. A ground ball off Portner’s bat led to another St. Peter error and a 3-2 New Ulm lead.

Hubbard then doubled to left-center field to score Hopp and Portner before Candon Briggs singled in Hubbard for a 6-2 Gold lead. Finstad was hit by a pitch to keep the Gold active on the bases before a fielder’s choice allowed Larson to take first as Finstad was out at second. A double by Albrecht scored another two runs and a Backer single made it 9-2 after two.

Hubbard doubled again in the third to score two and make it 11-2 New Ulm. A single by Briggs was followed with another hit by pitch on Finstad before Larson singled in two for a 13-2 lead. A walk to Albrecht and a bases-loaded walk to Backer made it 14-2. Hopp was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 15-2 and a sac fly off the bat of Blekestad made it 16-2 New Ulm.

Larson’s triple in the fourth scored Finstad, who singled with one out, and a sac fly by Backer scored the final run of the game. Anderson allowed a single to lead off the fifth, but a liner to Ryan Rathmann at first base led to a double play and a swinging strikeout ended the game.