Photo courtesy of Don Borstad New Ulm Cathedral’s Levi Franta pitches in relief for the Greyhounds on Tuesday evening in a Section 2A baseball playoff game against Madelia at Johnson Park in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — Sometimes it is not how many hits you get in a game that determines the outcome, but it’s when you get them.

Madelia eighth-grader Zachary Jacobs held New Ulm Cathedral to just four hits through 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday.

But two of those hits came in the second inning when Jacobs issued four walks and the Greyhounds collected two of their hits.

That resulted in four runs and that was all Cathedral needed as they edged the Blackhawks 4-3 Tuesday in a Section 2A Baseball Tournament game at Johnson Park.

Carter Haala got the win for the Greyhounds, now 16-5. He went 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on five hits. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.

Levi Franta came in and got the save, retiring the final two outs with the tying run at second base.

Jacobs, who threw 103 pitches in his 5 1/3 innings of work, took the loss for the Blackhawks, who fall to the loser’s bracket with a 13-8 record. Jacobs ended up walking seven and hitting two batters took the loss.

Tony Zaleski, a freshman, led Madelia with three hits and two RBIs.

The Greyhounds will now host Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Thursday at 5 p.m. at Johnson Park.

ML-GHEC-Truman upset third-seeded Springfield 9-6 Tuesday.

“We hit the ball hard today but they made all of the plays defensively today,” Cathedral coach Alan Woitas said. “Their center fielder [Jacob Lehman] took a double away and their shortstop [Dylan Grev] took a couple of hits away. So credit to them — they made a lot of good defensive plays.”

The Blackhawks had jumped on Haala for two runs in the first.

Jacob Lehman drove a one-out double. He and Greb were safe on a fielder’s choice and an error.

Tate Becker’s suicide squeeze bunt plated Lehman and a Zaleski groundout scored Grev.

But the one thing that you cannot defense against is the walk. And in the second inning, the Greyhounds took avantage of Jacobs wildness.

Haala led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Brock Wellmann. Jacobs followed with back-to-back walks to Matt Seidl and Caleb Forstner to load the bases.

A Colin Anderson single scored Haala.

A Jake Finstad groundout added the second run of the inning. A wild pitch gave Cathedral a 3-2 lead before Franta singled in the fourth run.

That would be the last hit Jacobs would allow until Matt Seidl’s lead-off bunt single in the bottom of the sixth.

“We took advantage of our at-bats,” Woitas said about that second inning. “Some of those were seven or eight pitch walks — we battled at the plate — and we were able to get a timely hit or two to drive in some runs.”

Madelia cut the lead to 4-3 in the top of the fourth when Becker led off with a triple and scored on a Zaleski single.

“At this time of the year you have to be able to win in different ways,” Woitas said. “Carter did a great job for us and we were solid on defense. And Levi has been really good all year. We wanted to give them a different look. I think that that is his first relief appearance all year and he stepped up in a big spot for us.”

Woitas also had praise for Jacobs.

“He is only and eighth grader, so he has a bright future ahead of him.”