File photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Caleb Forstner slides into third safely during the Tomahawk-Valley Conference title game on May 15 at Johnson Park.

NEW ULM — Coming into their Section 2A playoff baseball game against Mankato Loyola on Tuesday, the top-seeded New Ulm Cathedral Greyhounds had averaged 9.8 runs per game this season.

They did nothing to hurt that average against the Crusaders.

Cathedral pounded out 12 hits and jumped to a 4-0 lead after one inning as they downed the eighth-seeded Crusaders 10-2 at Mueller Park.

Jake Finstad got the win for Cathedral, now 18-2. The right-hander went five innings and allowed two runs on five hits while fanning seven. Caleb Forstner pitched the last two innings and permitted one hit while striking out three.

T.J. O’Malley took the loss for Loyola (11-11). He went four innings and was charged with five runs on four hits.

Alex Portner led the Cathedral offense with four hits, with Finstad and Colin Anderson each collecting two hits.

The Greyhounds will now host Madelia Thursday at 5 p.m. at Johnson Park.

Cathedral head coach Alan Woitas said that jumping to that 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first — especially with Finstad on the mound — set the tone for the game.

“That is a big inning to jump out early and it kind of calms the nerves and puts you in the driver’s seat,” Woitas said. “It relaxed us defensively and you can play more comfortable at the plate.”

And it was Finstad who jump-started the Greyhounds offense on the first pitch that he saw leading off the bottom of the first.

He lined a shot toward right field that Crusaders right fielder Jackson Kopp could not reach as it got by him for an inside-the-park home run and a quick 1-0 lead. O’Malley then walked Caleb Forstner, who went to second on a balk. O’Malley then issued free passes to Colin Anderson and Elliot Schabert to load the bases.

Portner’s first single of the game plated Forstner for a 2-0 lead. A Joey Schugel RBI single and a passed ball made it 4-0.

And giving Finstad a four-run lead is huge.

“He [Finstad] has been one of our horses all year,” Woitas said. “We are comfortable with him out there — we know he is going to give us a shot to win the game. He did struggle a little bit locating pitches, but settled in in the five innings that he threw.”

The only speed bumps that Finstad had in his five-inning performance came in the third and fifth innings when the Crusaders scored a run in both innings.

Cathedral scored a run in the bottom of the fourth when Eli Anderson reached on a fielder’s choice and then later scored on an Elijah Rieser single.

The Greyhounds added two runs in the home half of the fifth when Colin Anderson led off with a double. He would score when Portner laced a single to center field and when the ball got my Crusaders’ center fielder Mason Henel both Anderson and Portner scored for a 7-2 lead.

Cathedral then capped off the game with three runs in the sixth.

Josh Forstner led off with a double and Finstad legged out a bunt single. Finstad swiped second and a Caleb Forstner sacrifice fly plated Josh Forstner. An Anderson RBI single and a Schabert double made it 10-2.

Woitas said that he was happy with his team’s offensive production in the game and especially Portner.

“Alex had a big day, Colin Anderson had a couple hits,” Woitas said. “One through nine we have consistently gotten different players who have contributed — it is someone elses day each day and that makes us tough.”

Woitas also liked the work done by Caleb Forstner in relief of Finstad.

“Caleb threw really well — he has been really good all year, too.”