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The Crusaders realistically all but wrapped up this year’s Little 4 championship with a third conference win over Ferndale in baseball on Thursday.

Playing at Ferndale, St. Bernard’s broke open a tied game with eight runs in the top of the fourth and held on for a 14-5 victory.

With the win, the Crusaders not only kept their unbeaten season going but also improved to 7-0 in the Little 4 and moved three wins clear of the chasing pack.

The Wildcats dropped to 4-3 in conference and 12-3 overall, with all three of their losses this spring coming against their biggest Little 4 rivals.

Junior Garrett Shanahan provided the necessary spark for the Crusaders, hitting a two-run home run to help key the big fourth inning.

“I thought the turning point in the game was Shanahan’s (home run),” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “Our boys got fired up after that home run and never looked back.”

The seniors delivered for Ferndale, but unfortunately five errors on defense hurt, as did the fact the Cats stranded 10 runners on base.

Tyler Hinrichs pitched five innings for the win on the mound, giving up three earned runs on seven hits and six walks and striking out five, before St. Bernard’s closer Saehwan Kwon came in to seal the deal, pitching two scoreless innings in relief.

“Hinrichs battled on the mound without this best control but gave us five strong innings for the win,” Tomlin said. “Kwon has moved into the closer role for us and he came out of the bullpen strong.”

Shanahan and Michael Manzi led the way at the plate for SB.

Shanahan finished 2-for-4 with the home run, three RBIs and two runs, while the always dangerous Manzi was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and three runs.

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Henry Hinrichs (1-for-2 with an RBI), Tyler Hinrichs (1-for-4 with two RBIs) and Luke Brunton (1-for-3 with an RBI) each also had a hit in the win.

Senior Tanner Pidgeon had a big day at the plate for the Cats, finishing 3-for-3 with two runs scored, while fellow senior Prescott Langer threw five good innings but got little help from his defense.

“We failed our seniors today,” Ferndale head coach Justin Andersen said. “(Langer) did everything he had to do. He threw the best he’s thrown all year.”

The senior starter gave up just three hits in five innings and struck out five.

Tomlin also praised the performances of Langer and Pidgeon, the latter of whom he said is “having a great senior season and smashing the ball all over the ball park for Ferndale.”

Langer, according to Tomlin, “had us off balance early and struck out several of our batters. We have great respect for those two amazing athletes.”

Ferndale sophomore Preston Killingsworth finished 1-for-2 with a run, while Langer (1-for-3 with three RBIs), Justin Noga (1-for-3 with a RBI), Cash Mobley (1-for-4) and Tristen Titus (1-for-4 with an RBI and a run) each also had a base hit for the Cats.

The two teams will face off once again at St. Bernard’s on Friday at 4 p.m.

That game is part of a doubleheader at Crusader Field, with St. Bernard’s also playing a non-conference game against Del Norte at 1 p.m.