New Ulm rips

Sleepy Eye for district title

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- New Ulm Legion Gold banged out 16 hits off four Sleepy Eye pitchers and scored in every inning to win their 25th Second District championship with a 16-6 win over Sleepy Eye Post 7 Saturday afternoon.

The game was stopped in the bottom of the sixth inning after New Ulm plated four runs to put the 10-run rule into effect.

Left-hander Jacob Mertz was the winning pitcher for New Ulm Gold (35-2), going five innings and allowing six runs on six hits. He struck out seven and walked only two -- both in the five-run Sleepy Eye third inning.

Chris Cariveau pitched the sixth inning for Gold and allowed two hits.

Josh Hadley took the loss for Sleepy Eye (19-11). The right-hander went 2 2-3 innings and permitted seven runs on eight hits while fanning two.

Darrin Haala, Brett Braulick and Jake Deibele all saw pitching action for Sleepy Eye.

Keith McClellan led New Ulm's 16-hit attack, going 3-for-5. Jamie Hoffmann and Dusty Wilfahrt each had two hits as all nine starters for Gold had at least one hit.

Dusty Fleck, Bob Wellmann and Wilfahrt all doubled with Brandon Rolloff cracking a fourth-inning, three-run home run.

Cody Walter and Hadley each had two hits for Post 7.

New Ulm will play the District 10 (Metro) runners-up at 11 a.m. Thursday in Milroy in the opening round of the 2002 State American Legion Tournament.

"We scored in every inning and that usually means a good thing," said Gold coach Dave Kunz. "We had one bad inning where we had a couple of mental and physical errors -- we actually gave them the lead (6-4), but the guys battled right back, got the lead. That kind of took the fight out of Sleepy Eye. They (Sleepy Eye) battled hard in the early innings, but, after we just kept scoring runs, they could not stop it."

"Part of the game was that our pitching just wore down," commented Sleepy Eye coach Bruce Belseth. "But the real story of the game today was our defense. We had (five) errors and we did not make the plays. You make those plays and you are in the game and if you don't, you give a team extra outs."

That happened in the first inning. New Ulm jumped to a 3-0 lead due -- in part -- to two Sleepy Eye errors.

McClellan led off with an infield single and swiped second -- one of seven stolen bases in the game for Gold.

A Jace Marti groundout moved him to third before Hoffmann walked. A double steal scored McClellan with Hoffmann racing to third on an error on the play. Eric Austvold drew a walk and both he and Hoffmann scored on Fleck's double to left field.

Post 7 cut that lead to 3-1 in the top of the second on a Haala single, an error by Kyle Marti and a Deibele groundout.

McClellan's two-out single, an error and Jace Marti's RBI single to right saw Gold ahead 4-1.

But Sleepy Eye -- aided by two walks by Mertz -- took its only lead of the game in the third. The left-hander gave free passes to Jeremy Ibberson and Walter to start the inning, and an Andy Cook bunt single that hugged the third-base line loaded the bases.

A Hadley single plated Ibberson before more runs came home on an error by first baseman Jace Marti. After Mertz, who struck out the side in the inning, fanned Dusty Mangen and Bryce Belseth for the first two outs, Deibele came through with a two-run single and a 6-4 Post 7 lead.

"I walked the first two hitters and it just kind of snowballed from there," said Mertz. "Without the walks, I would have gotten out of the inning. But even being down by two runs, we knew that we were going to win. There is never any doubt with these guys that we can come back. They ripped the ball. It is awesome playing with these guys."

And Mertz was right as Gold wasted little time in re-establishing the lead with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Austvold walked and a passed ball sent him to second. Kyle Marti's single scored Austvold and Marti scored on an error by second baseman Randy Braun on a Rolloff grounder.

Rolloff swiped second and trotted home on a Kyle Helget single for a 7-6 New Ulm lead. Wilfahrt's single ended Hadley's day as Haala came in and retired New Ulm with no further damage.

But it didn't take long for Gold to score again.

Hoffmann led off the fourth with an infield single and Kyle Marti later reached on a fielder's choice. Braulick, who relieved Haala to start the inning, then worked Rolloff to a 1-1 count before Rolloff deposited a Braulick offering over the fence in left for a 10-6 New Ulm cushion. "Both games that we have played Sleepy Eye, they have pitched me outside all the time," Rolloff said. "It was getting frustrating, but he (Braulick) made a mistake and I took advantage of it."

New Ulm tallied two more runs in the fifth on a Wilfahrt double, a wild pitch that scored Wilfahrt, Hoffmann single and a run-scoring base hit by Austvold.

New Ulm then ended the game in the sixth. Rolloff walked, stole second and came home on Blake Thorson's base hit. Wellmann's pinch-hit double made it 14-6 before two more errors allowed two runs to score to end the contest.

"We were pretty relaxed today," said McClellan. "Even when we were down, we knew that we would win. We did not feel any pressure to win. We just came out and did it."

"This team is confident going into the state tournament," commented Kunz. "In three of our four (district games) that we have played, we have been behind at one point. The kids are confident in their ability to create offense. They knew that it is only a matter of time before they start to hit."

SLEEPY EYE 015 000-- 6 8 5

NEW ULM GOLD 313 324--16 16 2

One out when game ended on 10-run rule

SLEEPY EYE: Josh Hadley, Darrin Haala (3),Brett Braulick (4), Jake Deibele (6) and Andy Cook.

NEW ULM GOLD: Jacob Mertz, Chris Cariveau (6) and Kyle Helget, Blake Thorson (6). 2B: Fleck (NU), Wilfahrt (NU), Wellmann (NU). HR: Rolloff (NU).