Baseball
Crabs win another series, grabbing two of three from the Fresno A’s. Last year’s team Most Valuable Player, infielder Billy Ham, wore five bean balls in the series. The Humboldt Crabs baseball team has won two consecutive weekend series against the Fresno A's, taking 2 of three. The Crabs joined the Pacific Empire League this past offseason and are yet to enter the new league. The A's won the opener 6-2, with Logan Kelly from Colorado State Pueblo scoring a three-run shot to put the A’s ahead. The team's second win came Saturday with an 11-2 win over the Crabs, driven by all-local pitching. The series also ended with a 9-3 win, with lefty Nolan Long getting the win after allowing only one run over five innings. The season begins on June 18 with a two-game game at Arcata Ball Park, with each game set for 7.07-0526.
公開済み : 10ヶ月前 沿って Dylan McNeill の Sports
For the second weekend in a row to begin their season, the Humboldt Crabs grabbed a series win at home as they took two of three from the Fresno A’s.
We’re still yet to enter the Pacific Empire League, the all-new league the Crabs joined this past offseason. League play begins for Humboldt on June 18 when the Crabs go on the road to face the Lincoln Potters. The Crabs have stacked series wins to start the summer, handling business in non-league play taking two out of three in consecutive weekends and sit at 5-2 in the season’s early goings.
The A’s took the opener on Friday winning 6-2, as the Crabs couldn’t work their way back from a 6-0 deficit. Fresno did all of its scoring in the third inning and never looked back. The A’s center fielder, Logan Kelly from Colorado State Pueblo, squared off against a CSU Pueblo teammate in the Crabs’ Cameron Saso, with Kelly earning bragging rights by cracking a three-run shot to push the A’s lead to 4-0 before they tacked on two more in the frame.
Humboldt scored a run in the bottom of the third and again in the fifth but from there the A’s cruised to the win. Saso received the loss on the mound, with the former McKinleyville Panther going five innings while allowing five earned runs.
The Crabs’ offense mustered just two hits in the loss, both coming off the bat of Victor Castaneda, the outfielder from Cal State San Marcos also drove in one of the runs for the Crabs.
Humboldt refound its winning ways Saturday with a comfortable 11-2 win behind all-local pitching on the mound for the Crabs. Former St. Bernard’s pitcher and Crabs veteran Caleb Ruiz got the start and the win, going six innings and allowing just one run while striking out eight in Ruiz’s first start for the Crabs this summer for Humboldt’s longest-tenured player — he made his Crabs debut back in 2021.
Ruiz was relieved by former Eureka Logger Hayden Bode, who pitched the final three innings, striking out five while allowing one run to close out the ballgame. The Crabs’ offense broke out after being held quiet on Friday, leading 7-0 after just two innings. Third baseman Javier Felix from Cal State Monterey Bay homered to highlight his 3-5 night that included driving in five runs for the Crabs. Sacramento State’s Troy Harding got three hits as Humboldt’s designated hitter while driving in four runs. CSU Northridge’s Jehee Lee was the only other Crab with multiple hits, including a double.
The Crabs’ offense proved too much for the A’s again on Sunday. Humboldt secured the series with a 9-3 win, with lefty Nolan Long getting the win after allowing only one run over five innings of work.
The Crabs jumped out in front 2-0 in the bottom of the first with Castaneda scoring on an error followed by an RBI single off the bat of Cal State San Marcos catcher, Ethan Rivera. The A’s plated a run in the second, but the Crabs responded with seven straight runs from the third-sixth innings including a home run by San Jose State outfielder Trent Keys.
Fresno scored twice in the seventh to get within six runs before CSU Northridge’s Blake Ignaciak worked two clean innings to wrap up the game and the series in the Crabs’ favor.
Over the series, Crabs first baseman Billy Ham was hit by a pitch five times in the three games, only getting drilled once Sunday after wearing two in both Friday and Saturday’s game. Ham, from the University of Nevada Reno, was awarded the Crabs’ Most Valuable Player in 2023 but in 2024 he’s going from MVP, to HBP as he’s up to eight hit by pitches on the summer and we’re not even two weeks into June.
The now 5-2 Crabs won’t rest for long, as they’re back at Arcata Ball Park against the Bercovich Honor for a two-game set Tuesday and Wednesday with each game set for 7 p.m. start times before another home series this weekend against the Novato Knicks, the last home series for the Crabs before the start of the inaugural PEL season.
Dylan McNeill can be reached at 707-441-0526.
トピック: Baseball