Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — If every game in this year’s Little 4 is an entertaining as Tuesday’s opener between St. Bernard’s and Ferndale, it’s going to a fun race for the conference championship.

The two schools that are considered the frontrunners for the league crown faced off at the Bear River Sports Complex and it was the Crusaders who prevailed 4-3 in an exciting showdown that went right down to the wire.

Michael Manzi got the win on the mound, out-dueling the equally impressive Parker Prior of Ferndale and keeping the Wildcats bats in check for much of the night as the Crusaders overcame an early two-run deficit and finished the stronger of the two teams.

The game was played in very cold conditions and in front of a large crowd, but the rain held off for much of the game and the fans that braved the conditions were rewarded with an exiting showdown between these two great rivals.

“I thought it was an entertaining game and credit to them,” Ferndale head coach Justin Andersen said. “Obviously it didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but credit to them, they found a way to win.”

“The first league game was a battle between two good teams and two good pitchers,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “We feel fortunate to get this victory and know that every game versus Ferndale is going to be a tough challenge this season.”

The Cats broke the deadlock in the top of the second when Prescott Langer doubled to left field before stealing his way to third and then scoring moments later on a Cade Renner single.

They stretched the advantage to two in the top of the third when Prior hit a sac fly to score Tanner Pidgeon, who had walked to lead off the inning.

And with Prior impressing on the mound, it looked as if that might be enough.

The Crusaders, however, would settle into the game and took control with a pair of runs in the bottom of both the third and fourth innings.

Quentin Ikeya and Manzi led off the fourth on back-to-back base hits and would each score on passed balls to tie the game at 2-2.

Ikeya and Manzi would each score again with two outs in the fifth inning to give the host Crusaders a 4-2 advantage.

The Cats should have gotten out of the fifth unscathed, but poor throws to first base allowed both players to reach home plate.

The switch in momentum seemed to spur Manzi and his defense and the Crusaders retired the Cats in order in each of the fifth and sixth innings.

But the Ferndale boys are the defending conference champs for a reason and they would not go down easily.

Freshman Cash Mobley led off the top of the seventh with a base hit to right field and made his way all the way to third base on an error.

He would reach home plate on the same play when a throw to third base went out of bounds .

Pidgeon then reached base with one out on a hit-by-pitch, but he was picked off moments later to end the threat and Luke Brunton took over on the mound to record the final out and secure both the save and early bragging rights for St. Bernard’s.

This was just the first of four conference showdowns between the two schools, who will play again at Ferndale on Thursday afternoon.

Prior gave up just one earned run and struck out six, giving his team a chance to win.

But four Ferndale errors — “at the worst possible times,” according to Andersen — didn’t help matters, nor did a quiet day at the plate from the top of the Ferndale lineup.

“Parker pitched well enough to get the win,” the Ferndale coach said. “I felt our offense let us down.”

The six through nine Ferndale hitters out-hit the team’s one through four hitters 4-2 for the game.

Manzi helped this own cause with a good day at the plate and was 2-for-4.

“Michael Manzi had a great day on the mound, at the plate and on the bases to lead us to victory,” Tomlin said. “Quentin Ikeya also played a great game and ran the bases well.”

St. Bernard’s Tyler Maples also was 2-for-4 and drove in Manzi for what would prove to be the winning run on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the fourth.

Brunton, Mateo Reiman and Tyler Hinrichs each also had a hit in the win.

Jonah Anderson, Luke Dixon and Tristen Titus each also had a base hit for the Wildcats.

“These type of games are what builds character,” Andersen said.

The loss was the first of the season for the Wildcats, who dropped to 5-1 overall and 0-1 in conference.

The Crusaders, meanwhile, improved to 6-3 on the season and 1-0 in the L4.

Thursday’s game is scheduled for 4 p.m.

The second scheduled Little 4 game on Tuesday between South Fork and Hoopa was pushed back at least until Wednesday.