NCS playoffs | St. Bernard's baseball falls to tough Newark Memorial team
On the strength of an early homer and a four-run fifth inning, visiting No. 5 seed Newark Memorial High ousted the top seed St. Bernard's Crusaders in Eureka on Wednesday night in the North Coast Section Division 4 playoffs by the final of 8-0. SB was the final Humboldt team competing in the sections, and despite making solid contact throughout the game against the Cougars' hard-throwing righty Connor Murphy, they weren't able to plate a run.
Newark got its first run in the opening stanza on a base on balls with the bases loaded from Crusader starter Saehwan Kwon. Henry Hinrichs walked and stole two bases for the Crusaders in the bottom of the inning, but was stranded, and a solo homer in the second made it 2-0 Cougars.
Mason Noel got SB's first hit in the bottom of the second, but was caught stealing after sliding off the bag. In the top of the third, a Cougar player hit a double to left, but Noel fired a strike to second base and Luke Brunton applied the tag at second as the Newark player couldn't stop for a momentum-swinging out. Teyler Bailey was then summoned in to pitch for SB.
SB catcher Michael Manzi drilled a line drive in the bottom half of the inning, but it went straight to Murphy on the hill. Henry Hinrichs had a single, one of his three times on base on the night, but a strikeout ended the third.
In the fourth, a Cougar bunt with runners on third and second forced a throwaway to second base by St. Bernard's, a run scored, and two runners left in scoring position. Newark failed on a squeeze bunt attempt, and lost an out, but scored a run on a sacrifice fly and yet another on a Crusader throwing error to make it 5-0. Another overthrow to first made it 6-0 Newark, a lead they would not relinquish, plating two more in the sixth. Tyler Hinrichs finished the last three innings on the mound for SB.
"I thought we had a positive offensive approach and I saw good swings," Crusader head coach Matt Tomlin said. "We made good contact against a real quality pitcher, and hit the ball hard several times. Henry had a great game, reaching three times and stealing three bases, and their pitcher was really good. I thought we did a good job of attacking him, we just couldn't get that big hit to score a run early that might've given us more confidence."
Kwon went 2.1 innings in his start, giving up two earned runs, one walk, and striking out one with two hit batters. Bailey pitched 1.2 and gave up three hits and four runs, none earned, with three walks and a strikeout. Tyler Hinrichs, in his three innings of work, surrendered just one hit and two earned runs, two walks, and seven strikeouts.
Henry Hinrichs had his hit and three stolen bases, while Noel went 1-for-2 and Mason Long 1-for-1.
"I chalk it up to nothing being effective on the defensive side," the coach continued. "We walked six batters and hit two more, giving eight free bases. We didn't pitch good enough and defensively, we were just awful, with a lot of errors. It just wasn't our day and it happens, it wasn't a lack of effort, the guys were playing hard and trying to make plays, they just didn't execute very well."
He speculated three of the eight runs scored were earned and spoke of the difficulty managing eight free runners on base and not attacking the strike zone.
"It was a rough night, we didn't play well in any aspect of the game," said Tomlin, while acknowledging Henry Hinrichs and Noel's exploits reaching base and catching the runner at second, respectively. The two earned kudos for their individual exploits, as did freshman Mason Long with a pinch-hit base knock.
"Overall, it was an amazing season and a great journey," said the coach. "22 wins (versus five losses), undefeated league champs, and 17 of our 20 players return next season. We will miss our three amazing seniors. Michael Manzi, Luke Brunton, and Tyler Hinrichs were all four-year varsity players and had great high school careers. They won a lot of games for us, and we wish them the best moving on to college."
"A lot of young guys got a lot of valuable experience this year, and that group has a chance to be really special in the coming years," said Tomlin.
Ken McCanless can be reached at 707-441-0526.
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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 8:05 PM.