File photo – The Ferndale Wildcats

The Ferndale Wildcats took another step toward a first Little 4 championship in baseball in almost two decades with a doubleheader sweep at Hoopa on Friday.

The Cats took game one 9-2 and followed that with a 15-3 win in five innings in game two.

The two wins lift the Ferndale boys to 7-1 in the Little 4, and with four conference games remaining they remain tied with St. Bernard’s atop the standings.

The Crusaders also continued their impressive conference campaign with a doubleheader sweep at South Fork on Friday.

Austin Michel provided the offensive highlight of the day for Ferndale with a home run in the opener while also pitching five innings of no-hit ball.

Michel struck out eight and gave up just one walk and one hit batsman and was 2-for-4 at the plate.

Parker Prior pitched the final two innings, allowing three hits.

Once again the Cats enjoyed balanced offense with eight different players accounting for 11 hits.

Leading the way at the plate, Wes Renner finished 2-for-2 and Thomas Fergison was 2-for-4.

“Once again, we spread it out on offense, and on the mound I would say Austin had his best day,” Ferndale head coach Justin Andersen said. “He had command of his three pitches.”

Trent Titus finished 1-for-2 with three walks and an RBI, while Tanner Pidgeon was 1-for-3 with three RBIs and Prior was 1-for-3 and scored two runs.

Levi Dixon (1-for-3) and Jarrett Smith (1-for-4) each also had a hit in the win.

Prescott Langer pitched four innings for the win in game two, while the offense continued to click.

Langer gave up one hit and struck out six, with one walk and one hit batsman.

Dixon threw a three-up, three-down inning to close out the game.

Jonah Anderson led the way at the plate and was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and also scored two runs, while Titus was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs and Dixon was 1-for-2 with two RBIs.

Pidgeon (1-for-4, two RBIs), Michel (1-for-4, RBI), Renner (1-for-4, RBI), Tristen Titus (1-for-1), Langer (1-for-3) and Prior (1-for-3) rounded out a good day at the plate for the team, as every spot in the lineup finished with a hit.

“Our pitching stayed consistent,” Andersen said. “We had one bad inning defensively in the second game, but other than that, defensively we were good. 

“We’re running the bases well. They’re all buying in and know what’s expected of them.”

Humboldt Sports reached out to the Warriors, but no stats were immediately available.

“Credit to Hoopa, they are getting better,” Andersen said. “They’re not like the old Hoopa teams. Their attitude is good and I admire what (head coach) Curtis (Kane) is doing with that group of kids.”