File photo – St. Bernard’s Seth Brunton

St. Bernard’s improved to 4-0 in the Little 4 with a doubleheader sweep of South Fork at Crusader Field on Saturday.

The SB boys took game one 9-1 and game two 6-0 and improved to 6-4 overall, while the Cubs dropped to 0-2 in league and 0-4 overall.

In other local games this weekend, the Arcata Tigers split a doubleheader at Kelseyville on Friday, winning the opener 9-5 before losing game two on a walk-off, 6-5.

The St. Bernard’s and South Fork aces served up a well-played pitchers’ duel in game two of their doubleheader.

Tyler Dimmick got the win for the home team, pitching six scoreless innings, while striking out 10 and allowing just two hits.

Justin Freitas threw five strong innings for the Cubs, allowing two hits and two walks and striking out five.

“His fast ball was electric at times and I haven’t seen him throw his curve ball so consistently for strikes in a while,” South Fork head coach Chris Contreras said of Freitas.

However, defensive errors proved costly for a Cubs team that has been limited in practice in recent weeks because of the weather and was playing just its third and fourth games of the season.

St. Bernard’s Quentin Ikeya finished 1-for-2 with a double, while Tyson Meyer was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI and Dimmick was 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Carson Costa also made some noise at the plate and finished 1-for-1, while Mateo Gutierrez was 1-for-2 with an RBI and two runs and also threw one hitless inning in relief.

The Crusaders got game one off to an impressive start and scored six runs in the first inning to quickly take control.

Dimmick again had a say in the win, finishing 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, while Isaiah Wolfe went 2-for-4 with two runs, Tyler Hinrichs was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs and Seth Brunton was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

Freshman Michael Manzi continued his outstanding start to his high school career with another strong outing on the mound.

Manzi threw six innings for the win, allowing just three hits and one run, while striking out eight.

File photo – The St. Bernard’s Crusaders

Jason Meyer pitched one hitless inning in relief.

For South Fork, John Harding went 1-for-2 with a double, a walk and a run and Broc Contreras went 1-for-2 with a walk.

Chris Contreras also praised the play of starting pitcher Lucas Genolio, who gave up just three hits in five innings.

Jonah Wansick pitched well in relief in both games, throwing consistent strikes.

“Our team is still figuring out minor details of the game, especially on the defensive side,” the head coach said. “But we are definitely heading in the right direction.

“I think the Little 4 will be very competitive this season from top to bottom.”

Next up, St. Bernard’s travels to Phoenix, Arizona, for a tournament., which gets under way on Thursday, while South Fork plays at Del Norte on Tuesday.

File photo – The South Fork Cubs

Arcata 9, Kelseyville 5

Kelseyville 6, Arcata 5

Sophomore Anthony Ebert threw four strong innings for the win on the mound in game one of Friday’s doubleheader.

The sophomore allowed just one walk and no earned runs, while striking out seven, and also was 1-for-3 with a double at the plate.

Ben Lukens led the Arcata offense and finished 2-for-4 with a double, while Will Mager also was 2-for-4 and Ty Ghisetti went 2-for-5.

Miles Oliver and Tanner Kees each also had a hit in the win, which was Arcata’s fourth straight to start the season.

Game two was a different story, with the home team scoring late for the walk-off win.

Head coach Troy Ghisetti, however, believes it will serve his team down the road.

“We need to play in those tough situations and I thought our kids learned from that game,” he said. “I thought we really grew as a team. The atmosphere was electric. They have a nice fan base, and I thought we held ourselves together in a tight situation.”

Oliver, Ghisetti, Ebert all continued to play well at the plate and finished with two hits apiece, while Wilson Medina went 2-for-4 with a double.

Mager and Kees each also had a hit, while Lukens took the loss on the mound.

Next up, the Tigers (4-1) play at Eureka (4-0) in their Big 5 opener on Wednesday.