File photo – St. Bernard’s senior Tyler Maples had a pair of base hits in Monday’s loss.

The St. Bernard’s Crusaders saw their 11-game winning streak end on Monday, one day before their big Little 4 showdown at Ferndale.

St. Bernard’s traveled to Petaluma to play St. Vincent de Paul in non-conference action and fell 5-4.

The home team scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to break a 1-1 tie, and despite the visitors’ best efforts they were unable to overcome the deficit.

With the loss, the Little 4 leaders dropped to 13-4.

They remain two wins ahead of Ferndale in the L4 standings with a perfect 6-0 record halfway through their conference schedule and will play the Cats twice this week, on Tuesday and Thursday.

With eyes on saving their pitching for this week’s two big games, St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin turned to freshman Henry Hinrichs, who “pitched amazing” according to his coach.

The young pitcher took over on the mound in the fourth inning with his team trailing by four and he threw 2.2 scoreless innings to give the Crusaders a chance to rally.

After battling back within one in the top of the seventh, the visitors had runners on second and third with one out but were unable to plate either.

Michael Manzi. Who is playing at an MVP level in this year’s Little 4, continued to impress at the plate and was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs, while teammate Adam Wagner also impressed and was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Senior team captain Tyler Maples added a pair of hits and an RBI, while Mateo Reiman finished 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Garrett Shanahan got the start on the hill and threw three solid innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks and striking out two.

TC Rinker got the loss in relief.

Tuesday’s game at Ferndale is set for 4 p.m., as is Thursday’s game at St. Bernard’s.

With Monday’s win, the Mustangs improved to 3-13.

File photo