Photo by Jake Olson: Fairmont's Brayden Williamson celebrates with first base coach Matt Lytle after his fourth inning, 2-RBI single that gave the Cardinals a four run cushion. Fairmont took down New Ulm 8-5 at Herb Wolf Field.

FAIRMONT – Brayden Williamson’s 2-RBI single broke open the game for Fairmont’s offense on Monday night. The hard-hit grounder scored Merritt Pomerenke and Jensen Livesay from their place on the base paths, giving the Cardinals a four-run lead that eventually turned into an 8-5 victory over New Ulm at Herb Wolf Field. Fairmont has won three of its past four contests since the season-opening defeat to Marshall.

Pitching was taken care of by Noah Heckman and Joey Crissinger. Heckman worked through the first four innings of the contest, allowing two earned runs while maneuvering his way out of a pair of jams to limit the damage. The final three frames went to Crissinger, who went the distance and guided Fairmont to the finish line.

“We just made a lot of mental mistakes, but we still overcame those and hit the ball when we needed to. Had some great timely hitting,” Fairmont baseball head coach Don Waletich said following the win. “Our pitchers Noah and Joey pitched very well for us today. Beating a very good team is a good way to start out the week.”

The Cardinals’ 2-0 lead changed quickly after New Ulm’s offense began to string together solid plate appearances at the top of the third.

A sacrifice bunt from Dirk Haynes pushed Ryan Rathmann to third base following his lead-off double. Consecutive singles from Hunter Larson and Zachary Hubbard peppered the infield, driving in the game-tying runs for the Eagles.

However, Heckman wiggled out of the jam to limit further damage. He struck out Kyle Albrecht before forcing Candon Briggs to a groundout that got him out of the inning. Waletich thought this moment was big not only for his team but also his starting pitcher.

“It was very big,” Waletich says. “Noah’s continuing to get confidence. He has all the pitches, and as I said, is a guy we are going to be leaning on. If he keeps getting as good as he works at, we’re going to have some fun.”

One more run in the next inning gave Fairmont its only deficit of the night. New Ulm once again got creative on the basepaths, drawing a walk from Levi Hopp before Haynes brought him home with another sacrifice bunt, his second of the contest.

The fourth inning response from Fairmont was simple. Put the ball in play. While the Cardinals took advantage of three free trips on base, timely hitting from their bats continued to apply pressure to New Ulm’s pitchers and defense.

Joe Long and Crissinger each lofted the ball deep into the outfield to bring home tagging runners from third. Livesay shot his second hit of the game through the left side of the infield for another run. The final nail in the coffin came off the bat of Williamson, whose lone base knock of the evening proved to be one of the biggest.

“If you start putting the ball in play and minimizing strikeouts, that’s a big part of it [scoring runs]. And that’s what we did today,” Waletich said. “We didn’t strike out a lot, put the ball in the field, and made them make some tough plays. The results were obviously good.”

Up next, Fairmont will take on Jackson County Central on Tuesday afternoon at Herb Wolf Field. First pitch begins at 5:30 p.m.