Late innings

push Indians

past Hounds

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

MANKATO -- In New Ulm Cathedral's two previous regular season meetings with Sleepy Eye High, the Greyhounds came away with two 2-1 decisions.

Saturday, the same two teams met, this time with the loser seeing its season end.

And it was once again a one-run decision, but this time, the Indians got the win.

Sleepy Eye overcame a 6-2 Cathedral lead after four innings, plating two runs in the fifth and adding three more in the sixth for a 7-6 win in the Section 2-1A baseball tournament at Franklin Rogers Park.

Josh Hadley picked up the win for the Indians (18-6), going the distance and fanning 10. He allowed five hits.

Dusty Wilfahrt was touched for the loss for Cathedral (17-5).

While Hadley did it on the mound, he also did it at the plate, going 2-for-4 with three RBI. Jake Deibele added two hits and also drove in two runs.

Kyle Helget led the Hounds with a three-run triple.

Sleepy Eye will meet Springfield at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Franklin Rogers Park. The winner of that game will play Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, also at Franklin Rogers Park.

"We have had three, one-run ballgames with Cathedral," said a happy Indians coach Bruce Belseth. "What else can you say -- that is just good baseball."

"I thought that our kids, after the way that we played on Thursday, came out very nice," commented Cathedral coach Bob Weier. "We had a good practice. I thought that we were in pretty good spirits and came out strong. We had some scoring opportunities and scored some runs in different ways."

The Indians came out and scored two runs in the top of the first inning off Wilfahrt.

Deibele coaxed a one-out walk. Hadley followed by putting a charge into Wilfahrt's first pitch, sending it over the fence in left-center for a 2-0 Indians lead.

But the Hounds used some firepower of their own in the bottom of the inning. Hadley hit both Corey Schnobrich and Wilfahrt before walking Mitch Palmer to load the bases with no one out.

Kyle Helget followed by lining a shot to center that took a bad hop over the head of Indian center fielder B.J. Sprenger and rolled to the fence, scoring Schnobrich, Wilfahrt and Palmer for a 3-2 Cathedral lead.

Helget raced home on a Hadley wild pitch for a 4-2 Hounds' lead.

The Indians threatened in the third when Cody Walter led off with a double. After two were out, Wilfahrt hit Nick Windschitl before getting Jose Saenz to pop out to end the inning.

Cathedral stretched its lead to 5-2 in the third. Hadley walked both Adam Prochniak and John Knisley after there was one out before Adam Neubauer slapped a two-out single to left.

The Hounds tacked on another run in the fourth when Wilfahrt legged out a one-out infield single and stole second. He went to third on a Mitch Palmer groundout. Helget was intentionally walked putting runners on first and third. A double steal scored Wilfahrt for a 6-2 Cathedral lead.

"We were down for a while," said Belseth. "But we got together and said that if we are going to go down, go down with a battle. And finally, some of the kids who have been struggling at the plate for us really came through, especially in that sixth inning."

The Indians started their comeback with two runs in the fifth on three consecutive one-out doubles by Deibele, Hadley and Windschitl to slice the lead to 6-4.

The bottom part of the Indian order then came through in the three-run sixth inning.

Jeremy Ibberson reached on a fielder's choice and No. 8 hitter Sprenger singled to center. Riley Jensen, who was 0-for-2 in his two previous at-bats, was safe on an infield single that loaded the bases.

A four-pitch walk to Walter cut the lead to 6-5 before Deibele delivered a two-run single to right for a 7-6 Indian lead.

The Hounds mounted their last threat of the season in the bottom of the seventh when Knisley reached on a two-out error and Jacob Mertz singled. But Hadley retired Adam Neubauer to end the game.

"There were a couple of plays in the fifth and sixth innings -- if we just make the play -- I don't know why we didn't," said Weier." That is just the game of baseball. But I am proud of my team. They played hard and didn't quit. ... We had two close games with them in the season and this one was also."

SLEEPY EYE 200 023 0--7 9 1

CATHEDRAL 401 100 0--6 5 1

SLEEPY EYE: Josh Hadley and Cody Walter. CATHEDRAL: Dusty Wilfahrt, John Knisley (7) and Adam Prochniak. 2B: Walter (SE), Deibele (SE), Hadley (SE), Windschitl (SE). 3B: Helget (CHS). HR: Hadley (SE).