Greyhounds walk by Bulldogs

NEW ULM — In Friday night’s win over Mankato Loyola, New Ulm Cathedral took advantage of Crusaders errors and miscues for a 7-3 win.
Saturday afternoon at Mueller Park in a Tomahawk Division baseball game, the Greyhounds used 10 Lester Prairie walks and six Cathedral hits to roll to a 13-0 win at Mueller Park.
The game was stopped in the fifth inning because of the 10-run lead rule.
Jake Finstad got the win for the Greyhounds (10-1, 8-1). The senior right-hander went four innings and allowed just four hits while striking out seven. Henry Forst pitched the fifth inning.
Kaden Otto took the loss for the Bulldogs (1-8, 1-6). He went three innings and was charged with 10 runs on just five hits, but he walked eight batters.
Kaden Olson had two hits and two RBIs for Cathedral.
“We got a lot of free passes today (10 in the game),” Cathedral head coach Alan Woitas said. “But our guys understood the strike zone — did not go chasing pitches — but when they attacked the ball when it was in the strike zone.”
The Greyhounds, who host Sleepy Eye Public Monday at 5p.m. sent 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, scoring nine runs aided by five free passes.
Finstad, Caleb Forstner and Colin Anderson all walked before an Elliot Schabert plated two runs. Alex Portner drew the fourth walk of the inning. An error added two more runs before a Finstad triple made it 7-0. A Forstner single and an eror on an Anderson fly ball had the Greyhounds in cruise control at 9-0.
“That set the tone for the whole game and it really gave us a nice cushion to work with especially with Jake on the mound,” Woitas said. “He really pounded the strike zone and really attacked their hitters. We had no errors today, so clean baseball by us.”
Cathedral added four more runs in the third inning. One came on a wild pitch and another on a Joey Schugel sacrifice fly. Two more came on an Olson triple.
Olson came off of the bench to supply two hits and two RBIs.
“Kaden had a really nice day at the plate,” Woitas said. “He had two good barrels on baseballs, so it was fun to see him excel today.”
Lester Prairie mounted its only threat in the fourth on a Kaden Walstrom leadoff triple. But Finstad struck out the next three batters to end the inning.
Woitas said that Caleb Forstner will start Monday against Sleepy Eye Public.