Greyhounds patient, quick in shutout of Rabbits
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SEARLES -- New Ulm Cathedral showed off all facets of the game Friday evening in its season opener as it shut down Wabasso 6-0 in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division baseball game at Searles Ballpark.
The Greyhounds (1-0, 1-0) weren't tearing the cover off the ball all game, but they didn't need to as they were patient at the plate and got 12 free passes as a result and three hits.
"They were aggressive on balls in the zone and they didn't chase a lot of things outside the strike zone and worked the pitchers," Greyhounds head coach Alan Woitas said. "We made them throw a lot of pitches early and got base runners on, whether that be a walk, hit by a pitch or finding a way to get here or there, too."
When the Greyhounds weren't in the batter's box being patient and getting on base, they were doing a good job keeping Wabasso (0-2, 0-2) off base. The Rabbits put the ball in play 12 times total for four hits, but they got to third just once in the game and that came in the sixth inning.
Wabasso head coach Chad Olson said he expected Cathedral to be tough all around with a host of top starters back.
"I saw it when we were doing lineups … they had about five or six guys from last year's team that were in their starting lineup, so definitely had experience back," coach Olson said. "Finstad threw a real nice game for them. The at-bats early were pretty ugly, they did get a little better and put the ball in play. We had a couple threats there middle innings, it's just we haven't found that guy that wants to come through and be that guy and puts us back into the game. We'll figure that out as we go here, start getting some consistency with games."
Right-hander Jake Finstad got the start and win for the Greyhounds in four innings, striking out seven while allowing just two hits and a walk. Finstad was relieved by Caleb Forstner, who pitched two innings and allowed two hits and two walks while fanning two.
Colin Anderson got the final inning for the Greyhounds and made quick work of it with a 1-2-3 inning that ended with a strikeout. The Greyhounds started Josh Forstner behind home plate after graduating starting catcher Brock Wellmann last year.
"I thought all three of our pitchers did a great job of attacking hitters, throwing strikes and we made a lot of good plays defensively behind them," Woitas said. "So you do those two things and you're going to have a chance to win a lot of games. I thought Josh did a nice job behind the plate for his first game, handling three different pitchers, so definitely some things to work on after Game 1. I thought we did a nice job of putting the ball in play too, not a lot of strikeouts, which got us a lot of different base runners. Their kids made some nice plays, too, defensively."
The Rabbits collected four hits in the game, singles by Calvin Hanna, Kaysen Harms, Jaxson Remiger and Cason Olson.
Cathedral's hits came on doubles by Finstad, Caleb Forstner and Joey Schugel. Josh Forstner also had a single.
Righty Ethan Jenniges got the start and loss on the bump for Wabasso, going 1 2/3 innings and allowing two hits and five walks for four runs, three earned, and striking out two. Jenniges may have had some trouble finding the zone early on, but it was an unfortunate habit for the Rabbits throughout the game as reliever Jack Burns pitched 3 1/3 innings of relief and gave up four walks. Burns also allowed one unearned run and two hits while striking out one.
Hanna pitched the final inning and allowed three walks.
"We lost a four-year starter Joe Liebl from last year, it's tough to find that guy that's going to replace him, so we're trying to feel that out a little bit," coach Olson said. "We've got to be more consistent with strikes early and not giving up free passes. We cut down on errors a little bit, I felt we were decent for early in this Minnesota season, made some nice plays behind our pitchers, but they've got to do a better job of doing their job and keeping them from getting free passes around the bases, checking them over at first or second, just keeping them more honest."
Finstad struck out the first two Wabasso batters he saw before Remiger lined a pitch off the glove of second baseman Alex Portner for a hit. Finstad dialed back in and got a strikeout looking to head to the bottom of the first.
The Greyhounds got two in the first inning after Finstad and Caleb Forstner took back-to-back walks. A double steal was followed by a strikeout before Elliot Schabert grounded out to score Finstad. After a walk to Portner, a pickoff attempt was thrown away, allowing Caleb Forstner to score and Portner to take second and third. Jenniges ended the inning by forcing a pop out to himself.
Elijah Rieser had a sac fly in the second to score Forstner, who led off the bottom of the second with a walk and swiped second and third, for a 3-0 Greyhounds lead. A double by Finstad to center was followed with an RBI double by Caleb Forstner for a 4-0 Cathedral lead.
Cathedral got another run in the fourth after Finstad reached on an error, stole second and third and then scored on a sac fly by Caleb Forstner.
Wabasso had its best chance to score in the top of the sixth when Hanna had a sharply hit grounder for a single to lead off which was followed with a blooper into center from Harms. But Greyhounds reliever Forstner got a flyout to center fielder Colin Anderson and throw to third to get a tagging Hanna for a double play. Harms swiped second and Jayden Remiger walked before both runners took a base on a passed ball, but a strikeout ended the threat.
The Greyhounds then got another run in the bottom of the sixth on a throwing error that scored Anderson, who led off with a walk.
The Greyhounds were also 10 for 11 on stolen base attempts in the game, making Wabasso's walks allowed even costlier.
"We have a lot of team speed and that's going to be something where we'll be able to steal some bases, we're going to be able to put some pressure on defenses," Woitas said. "One through nine in the order, we're pretty quick. So those were things that we're going to hopefully be able to manufacture some runs that way."