Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Friday’s doubleheader at St.Bernard’s.

The Crusaders have dominated Little 4 baseball for much of the past two decades and that’s showing no signs of slowing down.

On Friday they put themselves in prime position to win a sixth straight conference championship and a 16th in 17 seasons with a doubleheader sweep over the Hoopa Warriors.

The Crusaders won the opener 10-4 and took game two 12-2 in five innings to complete the season sweep over the Hoopa boys and leave them deadlocked atop the conference standings with Ferndale. 

The Wildcats also swept a Friday doubleheader against South Fork and both conference leaders are now 9-1 with two games remaining.

They will face off in a mouthwatering doubleheader that will decide the championship at Ferndale on Friday.

Mateo Reiman and Tyler Hinrichs led the way against Hoopa.

Hinrichs had a dominating game at the plate in the opener, finishing 2-for-2 with an RBI and three walks, and he was just as dangerous when he got on, stealing four bases.

Reiman was 1-for-1 in the opener and scored two runs, but he was just getting warmed up.

The freshman also went 3-for-3 in game two with a double and two RBIs and scored four more runs.

Hinrichs got the win on the mound in game two, allowing just three hits in a complete-game five innings and also struck out six.

Luke Brunton continued to impress on the mound in game one and pitched four innings for the win, allowing one run on three hits and striking out six.

Garrett Shanahan threw three innings in relief to close out the game and gave up three runs on four hits and struck out five.

Several Crusaders impressed at the plate in game two in addition to Reiman.

The ever-dangerous Michael Manzi finished 2-for-3 and drove in five runs, while Brunton was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Carson Costa finished 2-for-3 and scored two runs.

The Crusaders are now 12-8-1.

Unfortunately once again no stats were available for Hoopa, which remains winless in the Little 4.

If the Hoopa coaches would like their players’ stats included, they can reach out to Humboldt Sports with details.