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Greyhounds advance in 2A

NEW ULM — Aaron Portner pitched five innings of no-hit ball as New Ulm Cathedral broke open a close 2-0 lead with six runs in the fifth inning and then added two more in the bottom of the sixth as the Greyhounds opened Section 2A play with a 10-0 blanking of Nicollet Thursday afternoon at Johnson Park.

The game was stopped in the bottom of the sixth inning because of the 10-run rule.

Portner, who allowed two hits in the top of the sixth inning, ended up with nine strikeouts and walked just one — that being the first batter of the game — and then set down the next 15 batters he faced.

Riley Hulke took the season-ending loss for the Raiders, who saw their season end with a 6-12 record.

Hulke was charged with five runs in his 4 1/3 innings of work with two of the runs unearned.

Mark Schommer led Cathedral with three hits with Portner and Sam Knowles each adding two hits.

Cathedral, now 14-4, will host Martin Luther/Granada Huntley-East Chain/Truman, a 3-1 winner over Madelia at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Johnson Park.

“It is nice winning your first playoff game no matter how you do it,” Cathedral baseball coach Bob Weier said. “Because if you do not, you are done. We did start kind of slow but it was nice to get those two runs in the first inning.”

Cathedral took advantage of four Nicollet infield errors to score those two runs.

Chris Knowles and Josh Seidl reached on back-to-back infield errors and a stolen base for a 1-0 lead.

Portner doubled before another infield error made it 2-0.

Cathedral clung to that lead as Portner held the Raiders’ bats helpless, setting down those 15 consecutive batters.

“That has been our pattern,” Weier said. “Chris [Knowles] at shortstop made a nice play [in the third inning] and Aaron made a nice play on a hard shot back to him and Mark [Schommer] ran one down in right-center field. That is what you have to do in playoffs.”

Meanwhile the Greyhounds’ bats were quiet until they sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs in the fifth inning.

Alex Hillesheim doubled and Chris Knowles walked. Portner’s one-out double scored both runners and ended Hulke’s day.

Ben Radke was greeted by a Sam Knowles RBI single. Schommer doubled and a wild pitch added another run.

A Noah Wilmes’ sacrifice fly and a balk made it 8-0. Cathedral ended the game with two runs in the sixth on singles from Sam Knowles and Schommer.

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