Ray Hamill/Humboldtsports.com – Aidan Dorsch

By Ray Hamill — Senior Aidan Dorsch will get the start on the mound for St. Bernard’s in Monday’s CIF NorCal Division-3 championship game.

Fellow senior Nick Dugan will be available after four days rest, but Crusaders head coach Matt Tomlin says he doesn’t want to risk the Stanford-bound standout’s health after he threw 110 pitches in Thursday’s semifinal round.

The good news for St. Bernard’s is that there really isn’t much of a drop-off, if any, in starting Dorsch, who would be a clear No. 1 on almost any other team.

Dugan, who can pitch after four days rest, per CIF rules, will see some action out of the bullpen and is expected to throw a couple of innings in relief.

Dorsch is 5-1 on the season with an ERA of 0.85, while Dugan is now 11-0 with an ERA of 1.00.

It will be both players’ final high school game.

The Angels also have a pitching standout in their ranks and will be expected to start lefty Jaxson Byrd, who has committed to play for Reggie Christiansen at Sac State after graduation.

“Their left-handed pitcher will be a good challenge for us,” Tomlin said. “So we expect it’s going to be a good game.”

The Crusaders are 26-4 and the Angels are 29-3.

St. Bernard’s will host the decider at Crusader Field at 4 p.m.