Humboldt Crabs Baseball

The Humboldt Crabs have finished half a game out of second place in the final Pacific Empire League regular season standings and they will not advance to the inaugural championship series.

They came into the weekend needing some help to qualify, but the Lincoln Potter won two of their three games against the Solano Mudcats to secure second place in the standings and they will now play the Healdsburg Prune Packers in this week’s championship series.

And that wasn’t the only bad news over the weekend for the Crabs, who lost three non-league games against the California Tigers at the Arcata Ball Park.

The visitors won 11-8 on Friday night and followed that with a 9-5 win on Saturday before completing the sweep with a 12-1 win on Sunday.

On Saturday, the Tigers struck early and opened up a 3-0 lead after three innings.

However, the Crabs would battle back with runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to take a 5-3 lead.

But the Tigers would have the final say and scored six late unanswered runs for the win.

Jett Ruby led a nine-hit team performance for the Crabs and finished 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs.

Eureka’s Keenan Morris provided the offensive highlight of the game for the home team with his second home run of the season.

Another former Eureka Logger, Myles Standish, got the start on the mound and threw seven strong innings for a no decision.

The 2023 Eureka High graduate gave up three earned runs on three hits and four walks and struck out 13.

Blake Ignaciak took the loss in relief.

Sunday’s series finale was not as close.

The Tigers scored six runs in the top of the fourth to break open a tight game and never looked back.

Ruby remained red-hot at the plate and added two more hits, while Jehee Lee and Ethan Rivera each also had two hits.

Another former Eureka Logger, Rogan Bode, made his summer debut with the team in the loss and played shortstop while going 0-for-3 at the plate.

Five different Eureka Loggers — Standish, Morris, Rogan Bode, Hayden Bode and Parker Rodgers — all have played for the Crabs this summer.