Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – St. Bernard’s Luke Brunton slides safely into third base during Thursday’s game.

The Little 4 leaders comfortably took care of business against a young South Fork team on Thursday, maintaining their unbeaten start to conference play.

The St. Bernard’s boys entertained the Cubs in their first game of the year at Crusader Field and won 14-0 in five innings.

The victory, which was their seventh straight, lifts the Crusaders to 4-0 in conference play and 9-3 overall.

“The boys jumped on them early and never looked back,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said.

Junior Quentin Ikeya got his first start of the season on the mound and “pitched outstanding,” according to his coach.

He threw four innings of one-hit ball and allowed just one walk while striking out three.

Freshman Henry Hinrichs pitched the final inning in his first-ever high school appearance on the hill and preserved the shutout, allowing no hits and one walk and striking out one.

Ikeya also was 1-for-3 at the plate and scored three runs, while teammate Luke Brunton was 1-for-2 with two RBIs and Max Collins finished 1-for-1 with two RBIs.

The ever-consistent Tyler Hinrichs also was 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Michael Manzi finished 1-for-1 with two RBIs and three runs, and senior team captain Tyler Maples drove in three runs.

The Cubs, who feature the youngest lineup in the league, dropped to 1-3 in the Little 4 and 5-7 overall.

The visitors, however, earned the respect of the SB coaches.

“I want to compliment the South Fork coaches and players,” Tomlin said. “They have a very young team, but coach (Alex) Finn is doing a good job teaching them the game and their players play hard and have great attitudes.”

Next up, the red-hot Crusaders will play a non-conference doubleheader at Middletown on Friday before returning to conference action with a pair of games against Hoopa on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.

Manzi and Brunton will get the starts on the mound for St. Bernard’s on Friday.

The Cubs, meanwhile, will play two games against Ferndale next week, also on Tuesday and Thursday.