A fast start to conference play has the Del Norte Warriors in prime position to challenge for this year’s Big 5 championship in baseball.The Del Norte boys opened conference play with back-to-back road trips for doubleheaders at Arcata and Fortuna over the past two weekends, and the Warriors delivered on both occasions, sweeping all four games. They opened with a 17-0 win at Arcata in five innings and followed that with an exciting come-from-behind 13-10 win in game two.This past weekend, they continued to roll with 4-0 and 11-1 wins at Fortuna, improving to 4-0 in conference and 10-4-1 overall.With the four conference victories, the hottest team in the H-DNL stretched its unbeaten run to 10 straight games and the Warriors have been on fire since getting upset at Hoopa earlier in the season .“That Hoopa game really changed things for us,” Del Norte head coach Jeff Cook said. Senior team ace Preston Daniels has helped set the tone for his teammates early in the Big 5 schedule and has been living up to his billing as one of the best pitchers in the conference.Daniels threw a complete-game five-inning no-hitter in the opener at Arcata and he followed that with a one-hitter in another complete-game performance in the first game at Fortuna.“He went in there and he took care of business,” Cook said of the senior’s opening-day performance. “He was confident. He was ready to go. It was the first league game and he was pumped.”Daniels struck out eight in that game and 14 in his start at Fortuna.And he’s been getting plenty of offensive support.Junior Marco Gonzalez led the team at the plate in the conference opener and finished 3-for-4 with four runs, while seniors Aidan Rice and Saxon Taylor each also had two hits in that win, including four RBIs by Rice and a double by Taylor.Daniels also helped his own cause with a double and two RBIs.Rice continued to impress in game two at Arcata and had two more hits, including a double, while teammate Anthony Cardenas also was 2-for-2 with a double in that win and displayed his patience and keen eye at the plate by walking six times over the two games. Junior Ben Shrewsberry got the win on the mound in game two in relief, as the Warriors overcame a late deficit with four runs in the top of the seventh inning.Shrewsberry gave up one earned run on four hits and three walks in 3.1 innings and he struck out four.The Del Norte boys continued to impress the following weekend with two more victories at Fortuna.And they’ve been winning with strong performances in all aspects of the game ever since their 5-4 upset loss at Hoopa in mid March.In addition to the strong pitching, the Del Norte bats have also impressed with the team scoring eight or more runs in seven of those 10 games and giving up more than three runs just twice.Cardenas continued to shine at Fortuna and had the hot bat for the day.The impressive senior finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs in the opener, and he followed that by going 2-for-4 with six RBIs in game two, giving him eight RBIs over the two games.Fellow senior Greyson Franklin also had a good game at the plate in the opener, finishing 3-for-3, while Taylor and Landon Williams each had a double.Williams also made some noise at the plate in game two and finished 3-for-3 with two RBIs, while Shrewsberry was walked three times.Shrewsberry’s impact didn’t end there.The Del Norte junior also got the win on the hill, allowing just two hits and striking out seven in a complete-game performance.Rice also had two hits in that win.The Warriors will host Eureka in a doubleheader this Saturday, which will be their first home games in conference play. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });