Prep baseball | St. Bernard's bests South Fork, looks forward to busy week
St. Bernard's baseball team continued to bounce back from their first loss last Friday to Del Norte, running its record to 19-1 overall (9-0 Little Four Conference) with a 12-4 win over South Fork on Thursday. Brody Gaser earned the win on the hill for SB, going 2.1 innings and giving up one hit, one earned run, and one walk while striking out one.
The Crusaders took a 6-3 lead on a five-run third inning and scored three in the fifth to stretch out their advantage. Jarren Biodini also pitched for SB, with two innings on the mound, surrendering four hits and three earned runs with three walks and one K. Mason Long pitched 1.2 innings with one hit and one walk, and Michael Manzi worked one frame and struck out two.
Henry Hinrichs scored three runs, Tyler Hinrichs went 3-for-3 with two walks and two runs, Luke Brunton went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, Garrett Shanahan scored twice and knocked in three, and Braylon Johnson had the big blast with a homer, going 3-for-4 on the game with three RBIs. Maccoy Rickson went 2-for-5 with an RBI and Dakota Bestul went 2-for-3.
"Three more freshman pitchers made their first conference appearances on the mound tonight and they all pitched well," said Crusader head coach Matt Tomlin, who said this was Gaser's first varsity win and first time pitching after spending much time in the outfield. Johnson's home run was his second of the season, while Tyler Hinrichs polished potential conference MVP credentials, currently hitting .534 on the year with an on-base percentage of .634.
"Seven players from Tuesday through Thursday got to pitch for the first time in league games, three more, and I was happy with all of them," said Tomlin. "We're using these games, now that we've clinched the title, to develop pitching for the future. I think it's a great opportunity for these kids to gain some very valuable experience."
"I honestly feel like Tyler's played better than anyone in the H-DNL this season, an unbelievable year so far with what he's done," added Tomlin. "We're very proud of him, and he's been a great leader for our team… I thought Dakota Bestul, our freshman catcher, had two hits and he's really played well. He's our No. 2 catcher, and when Manzi's not back there he's swinging the bat well and playing well, and we're really high on his future and potential."
"For a guy who hasn't played baseball in years," said Tomlin of Johnson after his big day with the round-tripper, "he's really had a remarkable season, and he's a lot of fun to have on the team."
Looking ahead, the Crusaders travel to University Prep in Redding on Monday before hosting Hoopa on Tuesday, visiting the Hoopa Warriors on Thursday, and playing at Big Five leader McKinleyville on Friday. "We've got two really big games with University Prep and McKinleyville," said Tomlin. "Baseball's fun when you're playing a lot of games, and we'll get a lot of pitchers on the mound this week, trying to win some games and really build towards Friday. That should be a really fun and exciting game for the H-DNL and they're a very good baseball team."
Ken McCanless can be reached at 707-441-0526.
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