In the first three games of the DI Senior Legion Sub-State 2 Baseball Tournament, New Ulm fought back after trailing early to ultimately win all three games.

And on Friday night, the Gold found themselves down 3-0 in the fourth inning of a game against Mankato American. But two runs in the bottom of the fourth and another two in the fifth gave New Ulm enough runs to pull off yet another comeback to advance to the sub-state championship game.

“I think it’s just we don’t want to lose,” New Ulm’s Tanner Backer said. “We’ve just got that grit in us. We just want to find a way to win the game and plug away at it.”

Josh Forstner earned the win for New Ulm, striking out four and allowing three runs, one earned, on eight hits in six innings. At the plate, Hunter Larson was 3 for 3 with two RBIs and a run scored, while Backer had a hit and an RBI. Levi Hopp and Jake Finstad each had a hit and a run scored.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm's Jake Finstad runs to third during a DI Senior Legion Sub-State 2 Baseball Tournament game against Mankato American Friday at Wolverton Field.

The American took advantage of three hits, a walk and an error to score three runs in the fourth inning of the game, breaking what had been a deadlock by both defenses. However, the bats came alive for New Ulm as well. Evan Blekestad put a ball into play to get the first RBI of the fourth inning for New Ulm, and Backer continued the momentum with an RBI double to cut the American lead to 3-2.

“Especially with those runners on, [the mentality] is just to do damage,” Backer said. “Find a way to get the next guy on the next bag. If you can get him to score, that’s even better. Just find a way to help the team win.”

While New Ulm was unable to score more runs in that inning, Larson came through with a two-RBI triple, scoring Hopp and Finstad to take the lead for the Gold in the fifth inning.

Josh Forstner got out of the top of the sixth without allowing a run despite Mankato getting a runner on third, then Colin Forstner came in to close out the game in the seventh. After a groundout, Mankato managed two singles to put runners on first and second. But Zach Hubbard chased down a fly ball in center field and Hopp made a diving catch in left field to end the game with a New Ulm victory.

New Ulm now faces Marshall in the championship game at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Marshall can force a second game with a win. New Ulm has faced Marshall twice in recent weeks, winning both, including a 5-4 thriller on Thursday in the tournament.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm's Dirk Haynes slides into second base during a DI Senior Legion Sub-State 2 Baseball Tournament game against Mankato American Friday at Wolverton Field.

“Marshall is a good team all around,” Backer said. “They play defense, they can hit. We’ve just got to do our thing and we’ve got to play error-free baseball. We’ve got to continue to swing the bats and make plays on defense.”

With New Ulm hosting the state tournament next week, both teams have already clinched a spot in the state tournament. However, the winner of the sub-state tournament will head to state with momentum and a higher seed.

“Hopefully we just have one game tomorrow,” Backer said. “We’re not worried about the second game. Just go at Marshall with everything we’ve got. It’s a big rival of ours, so it’s always fun to beat Marshall. It will be more beneficial if we go into state as a winner instead of a runner-up. It will help if we win [Saturday].”