“I thought we did all three aspects of the game very well — hitting, pitching, defense,” Sleepy Eye head coach Caden Evers said. “Scraped across a few runs early on a very good arm, played very solid defense and all the pitchers that threw threw very well and found a way to win.”

Merrick Mathiowetz earned the win for Post 7, striking out three and allowing one unearned run on two hits in two innings. Sleepy Eye pitched four total players over the course of the game, with no player surpassing 50 pitches, meaning all will be available for the sub-sub-state tournament that begins on Thursday.

At the plate for Sleepy Eye, Merrick Mathiowetz was 2 for 2 with a run scored, whiel Karter Haala was 2 for 3 with an RBI. Tyler Mathiowetz added a hit, a run scored and an RBI and Carson Uecker had a hit and an RBI.

Mitchell Hopp took the loss for New Ulm, striking out two and allowing four runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings. At the plate, Kyle Albrecht was 2 for 4 with a run scored, while Alex Portner and Levi Hopp each had a hit and an RBI.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey The New Ulm Legion Gold’s Alex Portner tags out Sleepy Eye’s Merrick Mathioewtz while New Ulm’s Ryan Rathmann looks on Monday at Sleepy Eye Ballpark.

Uecker drove home the first run of the game in the bottom of the first, doubling to plate Tyler Mathioewtz. Portner tied it up for New Ulm with a single in the second, but Tyler Mathioewtz picked up an RBI on a ground out to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning. Sleepy Eye added two more runs in the third, with Landry Folkens grounding out but plating Merrick Mathioewtz, then Haala singling to bring home Kayden Klein.

Neither team scored in the fourth or fifth innings, but Levi Hopp picked up an RBI on a single that scored Albrecht to cut the lead to 4-2 in the sixth. New Ulm threatened to score more, loading the bases with one out, but Haala coaxed a fly ball and a fielder’s choice from the mound to get out of the jam. Tyler Mathiowetz pitched the final inning for Sleepy Eye, striking out to and not allowing a run to clsoe the game.

Sleepy Eye (11-2) has won 10 consecutive games now and await seeding for the Southwest Sub-Sub-State Tournament for its next game.

“Just continue what we build off of in the Upper Midwest [Classic] and the last two games,” Evers said. “Doing the little things right and I think we’ll be alright. The little things is the biggest thing I preach to these guys, and I think they go with it very well and execute very well.”