Photos by Matt Filar/Humboldt Crabs Baseball – Liam Forsyth is greeted at home plate by some of his teammates after hitting his first home run of the summer on Sunday.

The Humboldt Crabs broke open a tight game with six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on Sunday, as they swept a Pacific Empire League series against the Solano Mudcats at the Arcata ball Park.

The Crabs trailed for much off the game, but rallied late on the way to a 9-5 win.

The Crabs also took the opening two games of the series, winning 10-1 on Friday night and 8-5 on Saturday.

With the three wins, the Crabs improved to 24-4 on the season and 8-4 in league play.

Five different Crabs pitchers featured in Sunday’s win, with Max Hippensteel getting the victory in relief.

Hippensteel threw two scoreless innings and struck out one.

David Zazueta got the start and pitched three innings, allowing one hit and four walks and striking out five.

As has been the case for much of this season, the pitchers got plenty of offensive support, with eight different players combining for 11 hits.

The hard-hitting Liam Forsyth had the hot bat on the day, finishing 3-for-3 and hitting his first home run of the summer.

Forsyth also had a triple, a walk and three RBIs and scored twice.

Keenan Morris, Cameron Sewell and Houston Hirschkorn each added a double.

Hirschkorn also had a big night at the plate in Saturday’s win, finishing 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

Timmy Reed, Sewell and Tyler Howard each added two hits in that win, including a double by the latter, while the patient Adam Enyart was walked three times.

McKinleyville’s Cameron Saso made his second appearance of the summer on the mound, allowing one hit and a walk in 1.1 innings.

Jonah Fragus started on the mound and got his second win of the season.

Fragus threw 5.2 innings and allowed seven hits and three walks while striking out seven.

The Crabs took control of the game early, scoring five runs in the bottom of the second to open up a 6-0 lead.

The Crabs will travel this week to play three games against the Medford Rogues on what will be their final road trip of the regular season.

They play the Rogues on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights at 6:35 p.m.

The Rogues, who are 24-7 on the season, feature Del Norte standout pitcher Preston Daniels, who was this year’s Humboldt Sports Baseball Player of the Year after an outstanding spring with the Big 5 champion Warriors.

Daniels has appeared in four games out of the bullpen for the Rogues and has allowed three hits and three walks in 4.1 innings while striking out seven. 

The Crabs return home to play the West Coast Kings in a three-game league series this coming weekend.

Photos by Matt Filar/Humboldt Crabs Baseball