Prep baseball | Mack bests St. Bernard's in battle of conference champions
Making use of a two-run third inning and a four-run fifth, McKinleyville's baseball team put the cherry on top of their regular season Friday evening at home, besting visiting and fellow conference champ St. Bernard's 6-4. The Panthers got two home runs from sophomore Tate Saso on the day, to go with one solo blast from Hunter Carper.
St. Bernard's took a 1-0 lead in the third before Saso's first home run helped the Panthers score their two in the bottom of the inning. The advantage grew to 6-1 after Saso and Carper's dingers in the fifth, but SB rallied late, scoring three runs in the seventh and final inning while getting the potential tying run to the plate. Ultimately, Mack starter Joe Tanno's six solid innings of work stood up, as he surrendered five hits and two walks while striking out six and allowing one earned run.
Saso had three runs batted in to go with his homers, Jake Brunner had a hit and an RBI, Bode Reininger had a hit and run scored, and Patrick Wilson had two hits, a run, and an RBI for Mack, while Blake Santos scored a run.
For St. Bernard's, losing pitcher Tyler Hinrichs gave up four earned runs on four hits in four innings, striking out five and walking four. Saehwan Kwon gave up two runs, one earned, in his two innings.
At the plate, Henry Hinrichs went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, while Mason Noel was 2-for-4 with a double and RBI. Tyler Hinrichs was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a stolen base, while Dakota Bestul had a hit, a walk, and a run.
"First of all, I want to compliment McKinleyville," said SB head coach Matt Tomlin. "They have a great ball club. Joe Tanno pitched outstanding for them tonight and Saso and Carper hit three impressive home runs. I was very proud of our guys tonight. Tyler Hinrichs was solid on the mound for four innings and kept us in the game. Saehwan Kwon was impressive the final two innings and gave us a chance to rally."
He lauded the brothers' performance.
"I like that we didn't quit and made it a ball game," he added. "The Hinrichs brothers had another impressive game and combined for four hits. Mason Noel had a big game with two hits and a big double in the final inning. Although we lost, this game will make us a better team going into the postseason. We battled a great pitcher and solid team and our young players learned a lot about what it takes to play at this level."
The Crusaders went to 21-3 on the year (12-0 Little Four Conference) while Mack is now 21-2 (11-1 Big Five Conference).
"I thought we didn't quit, we kept battling against a really good baseball team," continued Tomlin. "And we were able to get the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning. So we gave ourselves a chance and that's all we can ask for. With (Michael) Manzi supposed to pitch and being out, Tyler Hinrichs, I thought, stepped up and did a great job on the mound, with four really good innings. Saehwan Kwon gave two solid innings (subbing for Hinrichs with no one out in the fifth), so the pitchers that filled in did a great job giving us a chance to compete and we had some good at-bats, especially Mason Noel's double to the fence in the seventh inning to get us closer."
"And the Hinrichs boys have been really hot at the plate," he said. "Each had two hits in the game, so we did some good things that gave us a chance to win, that will make us better moving forward … it was nice to see some pitching that threw harder and challenged us to prepare us for the playoffs a little better."
"Tate Saso, who's only a sophomore for McKinleyville, is one of the best recruit prospects I've seen around here in a long time," said Tomlin. "He's a very talented baseball player with a very bright future. I thought Mason (Noel) also played well defensively at third base, then we moved him to the outfield late in the game and he made two good catches out there, with the double to the fence. I thought he had a really good game and really stood out for us."
St. Bernard's has a bye on Tuesday for the first round of the Charlie Lakin Tournament as the Little Four No. 1 seed, as does McKinleyville as the No. 1 in the Big Five. SB will play the winner of Eureka-South Fork at 7 p.m. and Mack the winner of Del Norte-Ferndale at 4 p.m.
In advance of those contests, for which Manzi will be returning, Tomlin said his squad "would, win or lose, just try to get some guys on the mound pitching and get everybody ready for next week because our focus is on the North Coast Section playoffs. We'll use the likely Eureka game just like McKinleyville as an opportunity to face some better pitching and a really good team, and get ourselves playing our best baseball going into section playoffs the following week."
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