File photo by Tahlia Booth – Lyle McKinnon

The Hoopa Warriors came into this season having beaten a Big 5 school just once in the past two decades.

In their opening three games this year, however, they have already beaten a pair of Big 5 schools.

On Tuesday afternoon, they continued their impressive start to the new campaign with a 5-4 victory over Del Norte, following a recent doubleheader split at Fortuna.

Their previous win over a Big 5 team came in April 2010 when they got the better of McKinleyville.

They are now 2-1 on the season as they continue to build towards conference play, which augurs well for a program that is a combined 1-66 in Little 4 games dating back to 2017.

“I think our kids are starting to believe and playing some good baseball,” first-year head coach Aaron Williams said. “The whole team is playing well.”

Lyle McKinnon, who has been one of the most impressive pitchers in the H-DNL over the past two seasons, got the win on the mound.

The standout senior threw six innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and no walks and striking out seven.

“He’s been in a lot of close games,” Williams said. “He always plays tough, but the team (had) never pulled out a win for him.”

Fellow senior Brandon Romero took over in the seventh inning and got the save, allowing one run on one hit.

Del Norte threatened in the seventh inning and had runners on second and third with one out, but Romero and his defense got out of the jam to take the victory.

“It was a nail-biter,” Williams said. “That’s two Big 5 schools we’ve beaten in two weeks. That’s pretty awesome.”

They won without much offensive support.

The Hoopa bats managed just three base hits on the day, but they made them count and two of them went for extra bases.

Allen Kane continued to hit for power with his fifth double in three games this season.

The junior finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs and scored a run.

Brian Richards also was 1-for-3 with a double and drove in a run, while Romero finished 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run and Logan Halbutta and Kaydon Matilton each were walked twice.

“We played well on defense. They backed Lyle up,” Williams said. “It was just a good team win today.”

A scheduled game against Happy Camp was postponed on Monday because of the weather and the two schools will now play a doubleheader on March 26.