File photo – The Wildcats will play for a Little 4 championship next week.

The Wildcats will play for a first Little 4 title in baseball in 19 years next week after talking care of business with a couple of come-from-behind wins over South Fork on Friday.

The Wildcats won 8-7 and 10-6 to go to 9-1 in the Little 4 and remain tied atop the standings with the St. Bernard’s Crusaders, who swept a Friday doubleheader against Hoopa in Eureka.

The Cats and Crusaders will play a conference-deciding doubleheader at Ferndale next Friday to decide this year’s championship.

The games against South Fork could have been viewed as trap games for the Cats, but they dug deep enough to seal the two wins after slow starts in each.

“Even though it was a little ugly, I was happy with the wins,” Ferndale head coach Justin Andersen said.

The Cats trailed 5-1 after three innings in the opener, but began to chip away at the deficit and would score four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a one-run lead.

And that would prove to be the difference.

In game two, the Cubs scored all six of their runs in the top of the third to take a three-run lead, but the Wildcats would respond with seven unanswered runs over the next four innings to pull out the victory.

And once again it was the bullpen that saved the day for the home team.

“My starters maybe didn’t have their best stuff today, but my relief pitchers pitched well,” Andersen added. “Defensively we made a couple of mistakes, but overall, the defense played well.”

Tanner Pidgeon was instrumental in the game-one victory and finished 3-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and three runs.

“Tanner Pidgeon kind of kept us in it in the early part of the game,” the coach said of the sophomore, who scored on three of the four times he reached base. “It was just heads up aggressive base running and it kind of got us through our little lull.”

Jonah Anderson also had a good game at the plate and was 2-for-4, while Trent Titus went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run and Austin Michel was 1-for-3.

Prescott Langer got the start on the mound, with Michel coming in and throwing four innings for the win.

Broc Contreras finished 2-for-2 with a walk and scored two runs for South Fork, while Justin Freitas was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs and Chris Pedaris went 2-for-4.

Luke Genolio, Trevor Hunt and Josey Paula each also had a hit.

“Again it was our sixth-inning demise that has been the Achilles heel of our team,” South Fork head coach Chris Contreras said. “Hopefully we can get past theses sixth-inning woes that we’ve had going into the playoffs.”

Levi Dixon got the start for Ferndale in game two, before Prior took over and threw four scoreless innings for the win.

At the plate, Dixon finished 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs, while Jarrett Smith was 1-for-2 with a double, an RBI and two runs.

Michel also had a double and was 1-for-2 with a run, while Prior and Pidgeon each had a hit, an RBI and a run and Langer was 1-for-3.

Travis “T-Bone” way led the Cubs at the plate and was 2-for-2 with a walk and a run, while Genolio was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.

Paula, Freitas, Hunt, Wesley Way, John Stafslien and Makani Buck-Zulim each also had a hit in the loss.

“I felt like we were cruising and building some momentum and next thing you know we couldn’t score a run,” Chris Contreras said. “We left a lot of runners on base and Ferndale clawed back.”

“Credit to South Fork, they played hard, they’re a scrappy bunch,” Andersen said. “My kids continued to work. They didn’t drop their heads. They kept grinding.”

It was also senior day for the Cats, who honored a class of five in between games, including Michel, Titus and Dixon, each of whom is in their fourth year with the program, as well as Thomas Fergison and Wes Renner.