File photo – Lyle McKinnon

The Warriors got their Little 4 campaign off to a winning start in baseball on Thursday, defeating South Fork 12-1 in Hoopa in five innings.

Senior pitcher Lyle McKinnon dominated the visiting bats and threw a one-hitter to lead the Warriors to their first conference win in two years and just their second going all the way back to 2017.

And he got plenty of offensive support, with eight different Hoopa players combining for 16 base hits.

“Defensively we were on it, and our base running was pretty good and we hit the ball well,” first-year Hoopa head coach Aaron Williams said. 

McKinnon pitched all five innings and allowed two walks while striking out 10.

He also finished 1-for-3 with a run scored.

Seven different Hoopa players finished with multiple hits, led by sophomore Barret Myers who was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and scored three runs.

Junior Brian Richards finished 2-for-3 with a double that bounced off the top of the outfield wall and also scored twice.

“He was in the zone today,” said Williams, who added of the double, “It was four inches shy of a home run.”

Cher-geesh Mace (2-for-3) and Carlos Anzora (2-for-4) each also doubled, with the latter also driving in three runs, while Brandon Romero went 2-for-3 and had three RBIs.

After a scoreless first inning, the Hoopa boys began to take control of the game and pulled away with five runs in each of the second and third innings.

The victory came less than a week after the Warriors were no-hit at Arcata in their last game.

“It was a pretty good bounce-back win,” Williams added. “Our boys stayed focused.”

Delmer Ferris and Logan Halbutta each also had two hits for Hoopa, with the latter driving in three runs.

With the victory, the Warriors improved to 1-0 in the Little 4 and 4-2 overall, while the Cubs dropped to 0-1 and 2-5.

The two schools will play a second conference game in Miranda on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.