Worthington edged by top-seeded New Ulm at Senior Legion substate

Eighth-seeded Worthington gave top seed New Ulm a strong challenge Wednesday afternoon but ended up falling short in a 6-3 defeat in a first-round game at the substate senior American Legion baseball tournament in Mankato.

Post 5, which is now 5-8 overall on the season, took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Austin Gruis drove in Ethan Anderson with an RBI single. Worthington then made it 3-0 in the second when Anderson singled home Christian Dailey and Gavin Bell reached on an error, scoring Wilson Mahlberg.

New Ulm, though, responded quickly by scoring five runs in the bottom of the second, and it then added one more in the third.

For Post 5 offensively, Anderson went 2-for-4 on the day, and Brayden Raymo and Kaden Khamphanh were also each 2-for-4 with a pair of singles apiece. Dailey was 2-for-3 with two singles for Worthington, which collected nine hits as a team.

Anderson pitched a complete game on the mound for Post 5, giving up nine hits over six innings while walking no one and striking out one in an 87-pitch effort.

Head coach Austin Nunez commented Wednesday night that he was super proud of the boys, and that they competed hard.

Worthington will continue play at the substate tournament today when it takes on Northfield in a loser-out game at 10:30 a.m. Should it win, it will play another game later in the day at 5 p.m. The tournament continues through Saturday.