Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm VFW Silver’s Eli Anderson slides into home to score as teammate Elijah Reiser looks on during a VFW baseball game against Sleepy Eye Tuesday at Mueller Park.

NEW ULM — In a back-and-forth game with six lead changes, it was New Ulm VFW Silver who came away with a 10-7 win over Sleepy Eye VFW in a VFW baseball game Tuesday at Mueller Park.

“There were a couple of stretches where our fielding kind of left us,” New Ulm head coach Mark Grossmann said. “But nobody hung their heads. They just went out and made the next play. That kept anything from snowballing. That was a huge part. When you have five errors, and errors always hurt, but we didn’t let it grow. We just went out and made another play. Mental attitude was excellent.

“The other thing we did fantastic today was run bases. We got good jumps on steals, we had good runs on balls in the dirt. Our baserunning was off the charts. Baserunning and bunting I think would have been the single two things that — those were the three run buffers right there.”

New Ulm had five stolen bases and advanced on nine wild pitches.

Grossmann said that attitude is always a big difference in games that the team wins and loses, and it has been something that the team has been improving recently.

“This was ten hundred times better than it was last week,” he said. “When things got bad, when we lost the lead, they just kept playing. There was no kicking of dirt, no hanging of heads, they just kept playing. That’s a lot better than what it was last week. A lot. That was good to see.”

Lane Ruch got the win for New Ulm on the mound, striking out two while allowing two runs on two hits and one walk in three innings. Levi Hopp got the start, striking out one and allowing five runs on five hits and two walks in four innings. At the plate, Joshua Forstner was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a run scored, while Evan Blekestad was 1 for 3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Elijah Rieser was 1 for 2 with three runs scored and two stolen bases, while Eli Anderson was 1 for 2 with three runs scored, an RBI and two stolen bases.

Tyler Mathiowetz made the start for Sleepy Eye, striking out one and allowing four runs, three earned, on three hits and three walks in three innings. At the plate, Carson Uecker was 2 for 4 with three RBIs, while Jacob Fulmer was 2 for 4 with an RBI. Merrick Mathiowetz had a hit and an RBI.

Sleepy Eye was the first to score, with Tyler Mathiowetz scoring on a single by Fulmer, then Jack Windschitl scored on an error in the first. After a scoreless second inning, New Ulm responded in the third, with a two-RBI single by Forstner highlighting a four-run frame.

Sleepy Eye quickly responded in the fourth, taking advantage of two New Ulm errors to score three more runs and take a 5-4 lead. Silver bounced back once more in the bottom of the inning, with a single by Anderson scoring Reiser, then Anderson scoring on a wild pitch to retake the lead.

A two-run double by Uecker in the sixth gave Sleepy Eye a 7-6 lead, putting the pressure on New Ulm in the bottom of the inning. Silver responded with a single by Blekestad driving in two runs and adding two more runs off of Sleepy Eye errors. Ruch orchestrated a one-two-three inning in the top of the seventh to close the game out.

Sleepy Eye hosts St. Peter for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday, while New Ulm plays in a tournament in Brookings, South Dakota, starting on Friday.