In their last tuneups before the league season begins, the Humboldt Crabs swept a two-game midweek set against the Bay Area Lumberjacks on Tuesday and Wednesday by scores 2-1 and 13-5.
In Tuesday's game, Ruben Rios turned in a solid performance over seven innings to earn the win. A run that scored on a failed double play attempt in the second was the only blemish on his record.
And Rios needed to be good, because his counterpart, Rob Ellis, didn't fare too badly either, holding the Crabs to a season-low two runs. Both of those runs came in the fourth. After singling to lead off, Jeremie Fagnan stole second and third, then score the tying run on a wild pitch. A short time later, Tyler Shannon doubled in Nick Minteer for the go-ahead run.
Rios yielded to new arrival Connor Chase in the eighth, and Thomas Cortese in the ninth. Cortese earned the save by strking out three of the four batters he faced.
Wednesday night's game quickly revealed itself to be a different beast. The runs came early and often, and after three-and-a-half innings it was tied at 5. However, from there on it was all Crabs. They broke the tie in the bottom of the fourth, tacked on two more in the fifth, and then hung up a five-spot in the seventh, thanks to RBI-hits by Fagnan, Sergio Sanchez and Chris Akmon.
Zack McCoy picked up the win by pitching 1 1/3 innings in relief of Nick Mikkelson, a new addition to the team from St. Bernard's.
Now the Crabs face their first Far West League opponent of the season, the Menlo Park Legends. The Legends are off to a fast start, boasting a 7-2 overall record and a 3-1 league record as they share a very early league lead with the Walnut Creek Crawdads.
The Crabs and Legends' four-game series begins Friday at 7:00 p.m., then plays a Saturday doubleheader with an early start time of 12:30 p.m., and wraps up with a single game on Father's Day at 12:30 p.m.
