ST. CLOUD — Second-seeded New Ulm Cathedral aggressively ran the bases to come away with a 6-2 victory over seventh-seeded Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in the opening round of the Class A State Baseball Tournament on Wednesday at Joe Faber Field.

“We always stayed positive when things weren’t going right, that first and second inning with our errors, you know, and we didn’t break down,” RTR head coach Danny Moffitt said. “That’s why I was very proud of our team. We kept it rolling … First time at state, we had a little jitters, and playing at 10:30 a.m. was a little bit of an adjustment, but we still got to show up.”

Colin Anderson earned the win for Cathedral, striking out four while allowing one run on three hits and two walks. At the plate for the Greyhounds, Finstad was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored, while Elijah Rieser was 2 for 3 with two runs scored. Caleb Forstner was 2 for 3 with a run scored, Elliot Schabert had a hit and two RBIs, and Alex Portner had a hit and a run scored.

Brayden Chandler took the loss for RTR, striking out one and allowing four runs on two hits and three walks in one inning of work. Tyler Wichmann pitched five innings in relief, striking out two and allowing two runs on eight hits. At the plate for the Knights, Chandler was 2 for 4 with a run scored, while Drew Chandler and Seth Cowell each had a hit.

“Brayden, he played Dawson-Boyd [seeded No. 1 in Section 3A Tournament], against them three times and he did excellent … We couldn’t find a rhythm,” Moffitt said. “But, like I told the team, we have enough pitching … If something’s not going right, I was going to try somebody else. Tyler came in, and he did what he always does, and pitched excellent.”

Cathedral also came up with several big hits with runners in scoring position during the game.

“Elliot Schabert in the first inning to get us two, playing with the lead early is really important in these types of games,” Cathedral head coach Alan Woitas said. “For him to hit that ball to left-center was good. And then Jake Finstad in the sixth with the big triple down the right-field line. Just adding extra runs, those insurance runs helped calm the nerves if there are any.”

Cathedral’s Jake Finstad added that the team always looked to make solid contact at the plate.

“Put the bat on the ball,” he said. “It wears down teams and we can build off of that.”

RTR scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning as Brayden Chandler doubled, advanced to third on a groundout and then took home on a wild pitch. Cathedral responded quickly, with Schabert singling to drive in Finstad and Caleb Forstner to take a 2-1 lead. Cathedral scored again in the second as Josh Forstner took home on an errant throw down to second base to a stealing Rieser. Rieser scored later in the inning on a double steal with Finstad to increase the lead to 4-1.

Anderson kept RTR off the basepaths in both the second and third innings, and in the bottom of the third, an outfield error put into play by Josh Forstner brought home Portner for Cathedral’s fifth run of the game. The Knights managed to load the bases in the fifth inning, but a strikeout and a pop out ended the inning without scoring a run.

“We had too many walks in, too many errors with a team like that, that’s fast, they steal a lot, and they bunt a lot,” Moffitt said. “But, I think we kept fighting. We got the bases loaded up one time, we had a couple guys on base, and we couldn’t capitalize as well on that.”

Burns finally came through for the Knights in the sixth inning, putting a ball into play to score Chase Christianson, but the Greyhounds got the run back in the bottom of the inning, with a triple by Finstad bringing home Rieser for a 6-2 lead. Finstad started off the seventh inning with a great defensive play, scooping up a ball popped into the air off the third baseman’s glove and throwing it to first in time for the out. The defensive momentum continued as Cathedral shut down the rest of the inning to seal the win.

Cathedral now plays third-seeded South Ridge at 9:30 a.m. at Joe Faber Field.

“Everyone up here is capable of beating you,” Woitas said. “You’ve just got to make sure you show up and do the little things well. We made a few miscues today, but overall we can clean it up a bit and play well tomorrow.”

RTR will play in the consolation bracket, taking on Hayfield at 9:30 a.m. in the consolation bracket Thursday at Bob Cross Field.

“[We just have to] go at it like we’ve done all year,” Moffitt said. “We got to watch Hayfield and they’re a very well-defensive team as well … If we play our game, I think we will be pretty competitive.”

Samantha Davis contributed to the report with quotes from Moffitt.