Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Joey Schugel beats out a throw to third base during a Tomahawk Division baseball game against Sleepy Eye Monday at Eagles Park in Sleepy Eye.

SLEEPY EYE — Consistent offensive production and strong defensive plays sent New Ulm Cathedral 8-0 over Sleepy Eye in a Tomahawk Conference baseball game on Monday.

“[Sleepy Eye is] a good baseball team,” Cathedral head coach Alan Woitas said. “They’re going to be tough throughout the course of the year, especially when [Cody] Schultz is on the mound. But I thought we had competitive at-bats one through nine and consistently put the ball in play down the order and consistently put pressure on them defensively. Defensively, Caleb [Forstner] threw really well. He didn’t give up many free bases and we made a lot of above-average plays behind him defensively to limit the scoring threats they might have had.”

Caleb Forstner pitched a complete-game shutout for the Greyhounds, striking out six while allowing four hits in the game.

“I was hitting my spots pretty good, and our defense was great,” Caleb Forstner said. “We only had one error, which, I don’t really know if it was an error. Could have been zero.”

Cathedral got a runner on base in every inning and scored in five separate frames, keeping the pressure on the Sleepy Eye defense.

“I just think good at-bats, one through nine,” Woitas said. “We don’t rely on any one person in our order and we’re just going to go up there and compete at the plate. And they put good swings on baseballs today, and that just wears on teams when you always have guys in scoring position. I think we were able to do that consistently today, and that’s a good thing for us.”

At the plate for Cathedral, Elliot Schabert was 3 for 3 with a run scored, while Colin Anderson was 2 for 4 with three RBIs and a run scored. Caleb Forstner was 1 for 3 with a run scored and three RBIs, while Joey Schugel was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Jake Finstad added a hit and two runs scored, while Josh Forstner was 1 for 4 with a run scored and Elijah Rieser had a triple and a run scored. Alex Portner had a hit and an RBI.

Schultz took the loss for Sleepy Eye, striking out two while allowing five runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings. Cole Eckstein pitched in relief, allowing three runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings. At the plate for Sleepy Eye, Landon Wendinger was 2 for 3, while Carson Uecker and Cole Eckstein each had a hit.

Anderson drove in the first run for Cathedral, collecting a hit after a triple from Finstad to score him. Cathedral loaded the bases in the second inning with Schugel, Josh Forstner and Finstad, and Caleb Forstner was able to blow the game wide open with a double that scored all three base runners. The Greyhounds scraped together one more run in the third as a groundout from Schugel scored Schabert to increase the lead to 5-0.

Sleepy Eye’s defense tightened up somewhat in the fourth inning, as the frame ended on a double play as Uecker, playing shortstop, caught a popped-up bunt and threw out a runner at first.

However, Caleb Forstner and the Cathedral defense continued to shut down the Sleepy Eye bats, as despite Wendinger doubling in the fifth inning, the Indinas were unable to push any runs across.

In the bottom of the inning, Anderson was able to score from second on a bunt from Portner, as Portner beat out the throw to first and Anderson rounded third to take home, reaching the plate standing. A double from Anderson in the sixth inning scored Forstner and Rieser as Cathedral sealed the 8-0 win.

Cathedral stays undefeated with a 6-0 record, 5-0 in conference, and will host a doubleheader against Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s on Thursday at Johnson Park. Sleepy Eye (2-3, 2-2) hosts Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Thursday.