Prep baseball | St. Bernard's routs Ferndale, stays undefeated

On Thursday in the Cream City, it was a story of more of the same as far as the home Ferndale baseball team was considered with their matchups against St. Bernard's this year. In each of three cases, the Crusaders have built a big lead with the help of one breakout inning en route to a win, as their 14-5 win Thursday took them to 16-0 on the year (7-0 conference). Ferndale dropped to 12-3 (4-3) as St. Bernard's acquired a commanding lead in the conference race.

In this game, the definitive frame for SB was the nine-run top of the fourth, in which Garrett Shanahan hit his second home run of the week, a two-run shot to break a one-all tie and send the visitors on their way. St. Bernard's also plated four in the top of the sixth. Ferndale did most of its damage late, scoring two in both the fifth and sixth innings.

For the Crusaders, Tyler Hinrichs was the winner, scattering seven hits in five innings pitched, with three earned runs, six walks, and five strikeouts. Saehwon Kwon came in to get the save in two innings and struck out three. At the plate, Michael Manzi was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs batted in, and two runs scored. Henry and Tyler Hinrichs both had a hit and two RBIs, Luke Brunton had a hit and RBI, and Shanahan had his homer and a double, with three RBIs and two runs.

SB head coach Matt Tomlin said Tyler Hinrichs "battled on the mound without his best control but gave us five strong innings for the win. Kwon has moved into the closer role for us and he came out of the bullpen strong." Tomlin said he thought the turning point was Shanahan's blast, when "our boys got fired up after that and never looked back."

Tomlin complimented the pitching of Wildcat starter Prescott Langer, who had the Crusaders off-balance early with several strikeouts. He also commended Tanner Pidgeon, who went 3-for-3 on the day for the Cats, for "smashing the ball all over the ballpark for Ferndale. We have great respect for those two amazing athletes."

"Tyler didn't have his best stuff, but he's a competitive athlete and that's what makes him special," Tomlin said of his starter. "He kept us in the game with a one-one tie (into the fourth), got us out of some jams, getting to where Garrett hit the home run, and we seized momentum from there." Langer continued to battle on the hill for the Wildcats, but was done in by some defensive miscues (Ferndale had five errors on the day, three throwing and two fielding).

"It was the two-run home run and also two great bunts," said Tomlin, one by Mason Long and one by Henry Hinrichs, "perfectly placed, and we played small-ball and long ball, putting the pieces together in a really big inning."

Of sophomore Kwon, Tomlin said, "I wouldn't have a problem saying he's been our best pitcher this season on the staff. I would have no issues putting him in a close game with our season on the line, as he's shown to be a big game pitcher and we have a lot of confidence in him. He was outstanding again last night."

Of Shanahan, Tomlin said, "He puts so much time and energy into basketball, with such a long basketball season, that it takes him a while to transition into baseball. But he's had two home runs in the last week, and his swing is coming along, he'll be a big factor late in the season." Henry Hinrichs also earned credit for his work at shortstop defensively.

Facing a doubleheader with Del Norte and Ferndale at home Friday, Tomlin said, "We still need to play a lot of baseball. We have a lot of things to get better at, we're a young team, so we're putting a lot of young guys in there, and will mix them into the lineup (Friday) to get game experience. We're not worried about the undefeated record, we don't talk about it, I could care less whether we win or lose, but I need to get young kids some game experience so they're prepared if we need them in the postseason. We're looking forward to 14 innings of baseball and two really good games."

"Prescott definitely did what he had to do to give us a chance to win the game," said Ferndale head coach Justin Andersen. "We just let him down defensively. Offensively, we had plenty of opportunities; we just left too many runners on base and didn't get timely hits when we needed them. Credit Hinrichs for getting out of jams."

Pidgeon had two runs scored with his three hits, Cash Mobley had a hit, Justin Noga had a hit and RBI, Preston Killingsworth had a hit, Tristen Titus had a double, RBI, and run scored, and Langer had a hit and three RBIs.

"It just came down to us leaving too many on base and them capitalizing on our physical and mental mistakes throughout the game," said Andersen.

Of the message moving forward, he said, "Put that one behind us and we have 24 hours to flush it out of our system, and we get another crack at it. Our mindset is still compete every day, we're not looking forward to the playoffs at this point, we still feel like we have not played our best game against them. It's getting ourselves right and competing at our highest level, without the mental breakdowns of those big innings."

Langer, on the mound, gave up just three hits with five strikeouts and four walks.

Of the metrics or goals for the season's homestretch, Andersen said, "We're still searching for that complete game. That's got to be our goal at this point, especially if you want to talk playoffs. We need to get that under our belt and accomplished before we get to any kind of postseason. Yesterday was a disappointing day, with multiple opportunities to get out of jams and score more runs, and it just didn't happen. At this point, we wash our hands of it and move on to Friday, hoping to be better."

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This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 8:05 PM.