Humboldt scores two close victories, then wins a laugher to close out the league season. The WCL Tri-State Playoffs begin with two games on Thursday.
The Crabs scored eight times in the top of the seventh inning Sunday afternoon on the way to securing a weekend sweep of the Nevada Bighorns with a 14-2 win. The sweep was the second of the summer over the Bighorns and improves the Crabs to 39-9 on the season, including closing out regular season league play at 20-4.
Chris Johnson pitched six solid innings for the win, his third of the summer, while at the plate the Crabs offense racked up 12 hits, paced by a 3-for-5 effort by Craig Smith. Smith, who doubled, also drove in three of the team's runs. Also making plenty of the noise at the plate Sunday were David Popkins (2-for-5), Justin Lamb (2-for-4, RBI) and Tommy Gale (1-for-1 with a double and three RBIs).
On Friday night, the Crabs opened the series with a come-from-behind 4-3 win and followed that with a 6-3 victory Saturday. A couple of local standouts came up big for the Crabs in the weekend wins, with Andrew Ayers finishing with a pair of hits on both Friday and Saturday and Zack O'Hanen pitching eight strong innings for his first win of the summer Saturday.
Next up for the Crabs is the WCL Tri-State League Playoffs, scheduled for the Arcata Ballpark for Thursday through Saturday. The full schedule can be found here. The Crabs close out the season against the Humboldt Steelheads in a single game next Sunday.
