Photos by Taunya Brunton – Body Gaser in action for the Crusaders on Thursday.

The future appears bright for St. Bernard’s baseball.

And the present isn’t half bad either.

On Thursday afternoon, the Crusaders completed a perfect run through the Little 4 with a 12-1 win at Hoopa in six innings, as they closed out conference play 12-0 and improved to 21-2 on the season.

St. Bernard’s has succeeded with three standout seniors leading the way, alongside a deep and talented group of young players who are quickly establishing themselves as one of the best and deepest rosters in the entire H-DNL.

That group of youngsters includes freshman Body Gaser, who pitched a gem on Thursday on the way to his second conference win of the spring.

“Gaser had an outstanding start on the mound,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “The freshman right hander controlled the strike zone with all three of his pitches.”

Gaser gave up just two hits in five scoreless innings, while walking three and striking out three.

And he wasn’t the only young player to impress in the win.

Fellow freshman Byron Smith pitched the final inning to help see the Crusaders over the finish line, allowing two hits and no walks and striking out one.

Sophomore Henry Hinrichs continued his impressive week at the plate, following good outings against University Prep and Hoopa on Monday and Tuesday with his second straight two-hit day.

Hinrichs finished 2-for-3 and scored a run, while his older brother Tyler Hinrichs also had a good day at the plate.

Photos by Taunya Brunton

The senior team captain, who has arguably been the most difficult out in the entire H-DNL this spring, finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs, while fellow senior Luke Brunton also had a huge day at the plate and was 3-for-3 with two doubles, three RBIs and two runs.

Tyler Hinrichs and Brunton “both had monster days at the plate and capped off an amazing final league season,” according to Tomlin.

Mason Noel (2-for-3 with an RBI and three stolen bases), Adam Brunton (1-for-1 with two RBIs) and Max Collins (1-for-2 with two runs) rounded out a 12-hit team performance.

No stats were immediately available for Hoopa.

The Crusaders, who have a No. 1 seed for next week’s Charles Lakin Tournament, will close out the regular season in one of the most anticipated games of the year so far when they travel to play Big 5 champion McKinleyville in non-conference action on Friday afternoon.(20-2)

“This will be a great test for our young team against a very good Mack team,” Tomlin said.

First pitch is set for 4 p.m.

Photos by Taunya Brunton