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Cathedral moves on in Section 2A playoffs with win over Sleepy Eye

Staff photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm Cathedral starting pitcher Kasey Kuck tosses a pitch during the Greyhounds Section 2A playoff win against Sleepy Eye Friday. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

SLEEPY EYE — In a single elimination playoff game, mistakes are magnified.

Friday afternoon in a Section 2A baseball playoff game, the Sleepy Eye Indians were guilty of three errors in the first three innings against New Ulm Cathedral.

Those errors led to four unearned runs and were the difference as Cathedral eliminated the Indians 7-6 at the Sleepy Eye Baseball Park.

Kasey Kuck got the win for the Greyhounds (10-9). He went 6 2/3 innings and fanned eight while allowing seven hits. Aaron Portner got the final out of the game.

Avery Stevens took the season-ending loss for the Indians (12-8). He was charged with four runs in two-plus innings. He threw 65 pitches.

Caleb Kirchberg had three hits for Cathedral with Alex Hillesheim, Portner and Chris Knowles each ending with two hits. Kuck had two RBI.

Sam Tessmer and Carter Brinkmann each had two hits for Sleepy Eye.

Cathedral will now play Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley/East Chain-Truman Tuesday at 5 p.m in Truman.

“That first round of the playoffs with single elimination has a lot of pressure,” Cathedral coach Bob Weier said. “And I think that today both teams felt that. We were fortunate enough to score in every inning but the seventh. And every time they got back into the game, we tacked on a run or two. That was important.”

Sleepy Eye coach Aaron Nesvold said that the errors hurt his team.

“For us it is tough to have that many errors and not execute,” Nesvold said. “But Cathedral did what they do — they play small-ball and Kasey threw a heck of a game for them.”

Cathedral used errors and patience at the plate to take a 4-0 lead after 2 1/2 innings. In the first Nate Hauser walked and Alex Hillesheim reached on an error. Josh Seidl walked before a Kuck sacrifice fly scored Hauser in a 30-pitch first inning for Stevens.

An error, a Knowles’ base hit and a Hauser free pass set the stage for a Seidl RBI single.

Two more runs came across for the Greyhounds in the third on two hits and two more errors which saw Stevens leave after a walk to Mark Schommer and a Portner single.

“Part of it was that he had a little adrenaline going in the first inning” Nesvold said. “And we did not execute behind him either.”

The Indians cut the lead to 4-3 with three runs in the bottom of the third on a Tessmer single, a passed ball and a groundout.

But Cathedral countered with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings for a 6-3 lead. The run in the fourth was helped by the fourth Sleepy Eye error of the game.

The Indians again rallied for three runs, this time in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 6-6 on a walk, a bloop RBI single from Zach Haala and a wild pitch.

Cathedral used a Kirchberg single, a passed ball and a wild pitch before Tony Geiger delivered an RBI single for a 7-6 lead.

Sleepy Eye threatened in the bottom of the inning when it loaded the bases with one out.

But Kuck set down rhe next two batter to end the threat.

“We tell our pitchers that they are going to get into trouble,” Weier said. “But it is how you handle the situation that proves to everybody what type of a pitcher are you. Are you a battler or are you going to give up. Kasey is a battler.”

Kuck’s ability to work out of jams left the Indians with seven runners left on base in the last three innings.

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