Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral's Brock Wellman takes the lead in a Tomahawk Conference baseball game against Wabasso on Thursday at Johnson Park in New Ulm.
NEW ULM — New Ulm Cathedral scored eight runs in the top of the fifth inning to break a close 4-1 game and defeat Wabasso 12-1 in the second game of a Tomahawk Conference doubleheader Thursday at Johnson Park. I broke it with 1.
Cathedral won the opening game 10-7.
The second game was called off after the fifth inning due to the 10-point lead rule.
Caleb Forstner won Game 2 for the Greyhounds, making them 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the conference. He allowed three hits and had five strikeouts.
Joe Libre dropped the mound in Game 2 for the Rabbitohs (0-5, 0-5), who lost. He pitched four innings and gave up four runs.
For the Greyhounds, Colin Anderson had two hits and Levi Franta, Forsner, Logan Mielke and Eric Chabert each had two RBIs. Chabert had a double.
“Caleb has done a great job for us.” Cathedral head coach Alan Wojtas said. “And we had some really great defensive plays behind him. “When you have three double plays behind him, that's a credit to your defense. But Caleb also always hit batters in the game. He stayed ahead of the game and maintained the pace of play.”
Cathedral, which hosts GFW in a doubleheader next Thursday, took a 2-0 lead over the Rabbitohs in the top of the second inning on walks by Brock Wellman and Chabert and a single by Jake Finstad. Chabert then scored on one of Wabasso's four errors.
The Rabbits got their only run in the bottom of the inning on a double play from Forsner.
Cathedral added two more runs in the third on Joey Schugel's sacrifice fly, two errors, and a batter's hit.
In the top of the fifth inning, Cathedral, which had put nine runners on base through the first four innings, sent 12 to the plate and got eight runs off reliever Jackson Wagner to shake off the game. Schugel walked and was sacrificed by Chabert, sending him to second base. Wagner walked Finstad and Matt Seidl to load the bases, then Franta hit a two-run homer for a 6-1 lead. Anderson's infield hit and Forstner's two-run run extended the lead to 8-1.
After Logan Mielke continued the inning with a two-run homer, Chabert hit another two-run double.
“Various players contributed to the game.” Mr Wojtas said: “And that's our strength. We don't have to rely on one person. We feel like we have real depth in our lineup.”
Colin Anderson won the opening round. He pitched 4 1/3 innings and had seven points and six runs scored. Jake Finstad pitched his last 1 2/3 innings.
Kaysen Harms replaced Wabasso in the loss. He pitched 3 2/3 innings and gave up eight runs.
Wabasso also committed seven errors in the game.
Finstad had two hits, and Franta and Forstner each had two RBIs.
“We found a way to win it [first] game,” Wojtas said. “It's hard to play 20 games of your best baseball all year long. We were a little sloppy. We didn't have our best at-bats, Colin hit out on the mound and Jake did a great job in relief. But we… I found a way to win.”
Cathedral and Wabasso both hit two runs in the first inning, and in the second the Greyhounds needed just one hit to take a 5-2 lead, but were also helped by three errors by Wabasso.
Cathedral added five more points in the fourth, two of which came on Franta's single.
However, Wabasso scored four runs in the fifth inning, two of which came on singles off Harms' bat.
Wabasso added the final RBI of the game on a fielder's choice in the top of the sixth inning.
“We lost a game on Monday, so it was nice to get two wins today.” Wojtas said. “Then I'm looking forward to next week.”
