He didn’t need to worry too long anyway as Post 7 was quick to answer at the plate, scoring four unanswered runs to earn a 4-1 win over St. James Post 33 in a DII Southwest-East Senior Legion Sub-Sub State Baseball Tournament game at Sleepy Eye Ballpark.

The win gave top-seeded Sleepy Eye a guaranteed spot in next week’s DII Southwest Senior Legion Sub-State Tournament, which begins Thursday in St. James.

While the top-seeded East team in the Sub-Sub State earning a spot in the Sub-State Tournament was hardly a surprise, St. James’ ability to take the first lead and limit Sleepy Eye to four runs may have been.

Not for Sleepy Eye head coach Caden Evers, however.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye Legion Post 7’s Landry Folkens runs to third during a DII Southwest-East Senior Legion Sub-Sub State Baseball Tournament game at Sleepy Eye Ballpark on Friday.

“We played them earlier in the year, too, and I think it was a 3-2 ballgame,” Evers said, reflecting on the team’s second game of the season when they beat St. James 3-2 in St. James. “They played good defense, they have good at-bats, and they usually pitch pretty well. They don’t blow you away with things, they just kind of do little things right, they play good ballgames, and we just did enough to win. I thought we left guys in scoring position a little too much, but we did enough to get a W.”

Klein gave up just three hits Friday, all coming in the first three innings, and one walk in a complete-game win. He had just one strikeout in the game, but his control and defense behind him was enough to keep St. James at bay.

“Klein’s super efficient, too, and that’s what gets him by so much, even if he lets up that one run,” Evers said. “Balls are gonna be put in play, but we have a good defense behind him and I think he really thrives off that. Gets a lot of weak contact and pitches very well.”

Sleepy Eye outhit St. James 10-3 in the game. St. James played errorless baseball, while Sleepy Eye had two errors, but the errors did no extra damage in the end.

Post 7 leadoff hitter Tyler Mathiowetz was 2 for 3 with a double, while Merrick Mathiowetz was 1 for 2 with a double, a walk and an RBI, Klein was 1 for 3 with an RBI and Carson Uecker was 1 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. Adam Braulick, Landry Folkens, Ethan Schwartz, Karter Haala and Chino Luna also each had a single for Sleepy Eye.

Breyden Soderman took the loss for St. James in six innings, allowing 10 hits and two walks for four earned runs while striking out two. Max Westman led St. James at the plate, going 2 for 2 with a double and a walk, while Wyatt Haler was 1 for 3 with an RBI.

St. James struck first in the third inning with one out after Westman doubled to left and Haler singled to right to score him for a 1-0 lead.

Sleepy Eye started the bottom of the third with a groundout, but Tyler Mathiowetz doubled to right and Braulick collected an infield single to put two on for Uecker. A passed ball moved the runners up a base before Uecker grounded out to score Tyler Mathiowetz and tie the game. Merrick Mathiowetz doubled to score Braulick and put Post 7 in front 2-1 before Klein singled to left to make it 3-1.

Sleepy Eye’s insurance run came in the sixth when Uecker doubled in Luna, who led off with a pinch-hit single to right.

The East Sub-Sub State tourney continues for Sleepy Eye on Saturday when they play at 1 p.m. in Sleepy Eye against Springfield for the right to the East’s No. 1 seed in the Southwest Sub-State Tournament. The loser of tomorrow’s 1 p.m. game with receive the No. 2 East seed in the Sub-State Tournament.

Despite clinching a Sub-State appearance, the No. 1 seed from the East is something Sleepy Eye intends to work hard for Saturday.

“[Getting the top seed], it’s huge, I think,” Evers said. “Just putting yourself in the best possible position to win. It’s just a game at a time. Obviously secured into that next weekend, but you want to go out and compete every single game and try to put yourself in the best possible spot to win.”