Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye’s Austin Uecker slides into second to beat the tag by New Ulm Cathedral’s Jake Finstad during a Tomahawk Conference baseball opener at Mueller Park in New Ulm on Thursday.

NEW ULM — Joey Schugel’s two-out bloop single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Caleb Forstner from second and gave New Ulm Cathedral a 7-6 win over Sleepy Eye Thursday afternoon in a Tomahawk Conference baseball opener at Mueller Park.

Jake Finstad got the win in relief of starter Colin Anderson. Anderson went the first four innings and gave up five runs on five hits while striking out three.

Finstad finished the last three innings allowing one run on four hits.

Winsten Nienhaus took the loss in relief for Sleepy Eye, allowing four runs in three innings — two of which were unearned.

Marcus Martinez started for the Indians and went four innings and was charged with three runs on five hits. He fanned six.

Elliott Schabert led the Greyhounds with three hits, with Matt Seidl adding two.

Austin Uecker did the bulk of the damage at the plate for the Indians with four hits and two RBIs.

“Sleepy Eye is a really good baseball team,” Cathedral head coach Alan Woitas said. “They are going to compete for a conference and section title. So this was a good challenge out of the gate.”

Sleepy Eye head coach Aaron Nesvold said that he knew coming into this game with Cathedral that it was going to be a dog fight.

“And it ended up that way — the results obviously were not what we wanted — but it is April 4,” he said. “We will see [Cathedral] again in a couple of weeks, but we want the ones in June that matter.”

The Indians carried a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the sixth when Cathedral, who had left the bases loaded in the third and failed to score, tied the game after two were out on a single, two walks and a costly infield error.

Schabert singled with one out before Seidl singled and Finstad coaxed a free pass to load the bases. Nienhaus issued a walk to Anderson to cut the lead to 6-4 before a Levi Franta ground ball was misplayed in the infield for a two-run error.

“We have to execute,” Nesvold said. “We have to make those plays and good things happen.”

The Greyhounds then capped the comeback in the seventh when Forstner led off with a walk and moved to second on a Brock Wellman sacrifice bunt.

One out later, Schugel delivered the game-winning single.

Woitas said that Schugel’s single may have been set up by Schabert’s at-bat prior to his.

“Elliott a great day at the plate,” Woitas said. “But even in his last at-bat, he fouled off seven or eight pitches, put good swings on the baseball, and we look forward to him doing that throughout the year.”

Nesvold said that he was happy with the job Martinez and Nienhaus did on the mound.

He was also pleased with the job that Uecker did at the plate with four hits and three stolen bases.

“He is going to do that all year for us,” Nesvold said. “He is going to be fun to watch.”

Cathedral is at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s pm 4:30 p.m. on Monday, while the Indians travel to Wabasso on Monday for a 4:30 p.m. first pitch.