Photo by Humboldt Crabs baseball

The Humboldt Crabs split their final Pacific Empire League series against the West Coast Kings and now must play the waiting game to see if they have qualified for the league championship series.

On Tuesday night, the Crabs fell 4-3 in 10 innings, before bouncing back to win comfortably 13-2 in Wednesday’s series finale.

The split leave the Crabs at 14-12 in the PEL standings and in a tie for second with the Lincoln Potters (13-11), who have three league games remaining against the Solano Mudcats this weekend.

With their league hopes on the line in Wednesday’s game, the Crabs scored nine runs in the bottom of the second inning to take control and never looked back.

Seven players combined for 10 teams hits in the win, including a double by Parker Rodgers, who just recently returned doom a long injury layoff and finished 1-for-1 with an RBI in a pinch hitting role.

Andrew Overland pitched five strong innings for the win, giving up just two runs on four hits and no walks and striking out three.

Javier Felix led the Crabs at the plate and was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs, including his fifth home run of the summer.

Antonio Avila, Billy Ham, Troy Harding and Michael Mckernan each also had a double for the hard-hitting Crabs.

Tuesday’s series opener was much closer.

The Crabs rallied from an early 0-3 deficit to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth and force extra innings, but the Kings would have the final say, retaking the lead in the top of the 10th and holding on for their first win over the Crabs in four games this summer.

Seven different Crabs players combined for seven team hits, including a double by Keoni Coloma.

Logan Saloman got the start on the hill for the Crabs and pitched five solid innings, allowing three runs on five hits and a walk and striking out four.

Blake Ignaciak took the loss in relief.

The Crabs are now 28-14 on the season, while the Kings are 5-17.

The Crabs will play the California Tigers win a three-game non-league series this weekend.

The series opener is set for Friday night at 7 p.m.

The PEL Championship Series will take place next week.