File photo – The Del Norte Warriors open conference play next week.

The Del Norte Warriors will carry plenty of momentum into their Big 5 opener in baseball next week after an impressive pre-conference run.

However, they lost their final game at the Hidden Valley tournament on Saturday, falling 3-1 to the host school.

With the loss, the Warriors dropped to 6-4-1.

Junior Aidan Rice remained red-hot at the plate for Del Norte and finished the game 2-for-4.

Rice, who also got the win on the mound in an 8-0 victory over Mazama in tournament play on Friday, finished the three-game tournament 7-for-10 at the plate.

Fellow junior Preston Daniels continued to impress on the mound against Hidden Valley.

Daniels allows just one unearned run in five innings and struck out nine.

Unfortunately, however, the Warriors bats were unable to give him much run support.

“We just couldn’t get any runs for him for the second time this week,” head coach Jeff Cook said. 

It didn’t help matters that the Del Norte boys left 10 runners on base.

The Warriors closed out the three-day tournament 2-1, having also defeated Marshfield in their tournament opener on Thursday.

The Warriors wil now turn their attention towards conference play and they open the Big 5 with a single game at Fortuna on Wednesday.

The two teams will close out a three-game series with a doubleheader in Crescent City next Saturday.

The loss to Hidden Valley was just the Warriors’ second in their last nine games.

And Cook believes they’re well positioned to make some noise in conference.

“We are ready for league, I believe,” the coach said. “It was a good pre-season.”

Wednesday’s game is set for 4 p.m.