Errors hurt New Ulm again in loss to St. Peter

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau
New Ulm’s Kyle Albrecht leads off of first during a Big South Conference baseball game against St. Peter on Thursday at Mueller Park in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — St. Peter took advantage of three New Ulm errors to score four unearned runs and went on to down New Ulm 5-1 Thursday in a Big South Conference baseball game at Mueller Park.

Minnesota State-bound right-hander Kaeden Guida got the win for St. Peter (12-5, 8-2).

He scattered five Eagles hits while striking out 10. He walked one and the Saints played errorless defense behind him.

Tanner Backer was charged with the loss for New Ulm (6-9, 4-5). The left-hander went five innings and gave up four runs. He fanned three. Kaden Larson pitched the last two innings and was charged with an unearned run.

Max Brown and Jacob Stone each had two hits for the Saints.

“We are one hit away,” New Ulm coach Mike Anderson said. “Our pitchers kept us in the game — we had a few errors, which happens in high school baseball and you want to be perfect.

“Tanner did not have his best stuff, but his stuff was still good enough to keep us in the game and he battled through some adversity.”

St. Peter took a 2-0 lead in the second inning aided by a New Ulm outfield error.

Brown walked to lead off of the inning and went to third on two passed balls. Guida walked before a Tate Olson sacrifice fly plated Brown for a 1-0 lead.

Levi Wachal lifted a fly ball to right field that was misplayed and allowed Guida to race home.

The Eagles, who travel to Red Wing Saturday for an 11 a.m. doubleheader, cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the inning thanks to some small ball.

Ryan Rathmann led off with a single and went to second on a Ben Alfred sacrifice bunt.

Landon Barstad reached on a bunt single before Rathmann scored on an Ethan Thompson suicide squeeze bunt.

But that would be the last time that New Ulm scored.

The Eagles would put a runner in scoring position in the fifth and sixth innings but could not get that key hit.

“It will not show up in the stat book or in the batting average, but our quality at-bats have improved tremendously,” Anderson said. “We faced a high-end arm that is going to play DII baseball and I felt like we battled good enough. But it is kind of the story of our season — we are one hit away on several occasions.”

And one less error.

St. Peter tacked on an unearned run in the fourth thanks to an error with the third error of the game scoring a run for the Saints in the top of the seventh.

The Saints’ only earned run came in the fifth on a walk, a wild pitch, a groundout and a Brown single.

“Our margin for error — the way it has been this year — is pretty small,” Anderson said. “But if I look at it from a baseball perspective and you look in our dugout, the vibe is good and the guys — they are hustling in and out. They are doing the little things that make athletes into ballplayers.”