Cathedral was defeated earlier in the day at Joe Faber Field by Lyle-Pacelli 6-1 in the semifinal game, letting up all six runs in one inning.

Greyhounds head coach Alan Woitas credited his seniors for the work they put in getting to this point and said the team would miss them a lot next season.

“We had three great seniors in Carter [Haala] Kyle [Seidl] and Thomas [Finstad],” Woitas said. “We’re going to miss those guys tremendously. They’ve been a huge in last year’s state tournament and this year’s state tournament. A lot of credit goes to them for their leadership. It all starts at the top with them. But we have a nice core coming back. There’s a nice junior, sophomore class mixed in, some others who are itching to get more opportunities at the varsity level. We’re excited about what we return next year and hopefully we find a way to get back into the state tournament.”

Jake Finstad earned the win on the mound for Cathedral in the third-place game, getting two strikeouts while allowing one hit and no earned runs in three innings. Zach Paszkiewicz started the game, getting one strikeout while allowing three hits and one earned run in four innings.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Carter Haala checks the runner on first while the bag is covered by Thomas Finstad during the Class A State Baseball Tournament semifinals against Lyle-Pacelli at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud on Wednesday

Neither player was a regular pitcher for the Greyhounds, but both came up with two great outings during a rotation-draining tournament.

“Zach Paszkiewicz gave us four really good innings to start the game,” Woitas said. “I know he hasn’t pitched in a while, but we always say, ‘Be ready when it’s your opportunity,’ and he stepped up in a big way. Same can be said about Jake Finstad. I think he only threw one, maybe 1 1/3 innings all year and he came in, threw three really solid innings in the state tournament. Credit to those two guys for putting us in a position to win.”

At the plate for the Greyhounds, Levi Franta was 2 for 3 with an RBI, while Brock Wellmann had a hit and an RBI. Thomas Finstad added a double for Cathedral.

Cathedral started the scoring in the third inning on single by Franta to bring home Jake Finstad. BBE responded with a run in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 1-1. After a scoreless fourth inning, Franta reached on an error in the fifth and advanced to third on a wild pitch, but he injured his shoulder sliding into the bag. Jevan Wilfahrt replaced him, coming home on a single by Wellmann to break the tie and put Cathedral up 2-1.

Jake Finstad pitched three scoreless innings to earn the save and the win.

“I found some confidence,” Jake Finstad said. “I knew I had a good defense behind me and trusted them.”

While third place wasn’t Cathedral’s goal heading into the tournament, Jake Finstad still recognized the success and assurance it brought to the team.

“It definitely boosts our confidence for next year,” he said. “I know third place doesn’t feel just right, we had bigger plans, but third place feels good in the moment.”

Woitas’s parting thoughts on the season were on how the team had reached its goals it set at the beginning of the season and proved to be a state-worthy squad.

“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to try to get back to the state tournament and made a run at it and we did that,” Woitas said. “We got through a really tough Section 2[A], there’s a lot of really good ball teams there, and we had our opportunities. One bad inning maybe got us knocked out in that semifinal game, but we bounced back and showed that we belonged here with everybody else.”

In the loss to Lyle-Pacelli that featured five Cathedral errors, Haala took the loss in 2 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and a walk for six unearned runs. Jake Finstad was 1 for 3 with an RBI.