File photo/Matt Filar/Humboldt Crabs baseball

The Humboldt Crabs took care of business against the Medford Rogues over the weekend and got some much-needed help from a league rival.

And that was enough to see them over the line in the race for the second and final spot in this year’s Pacific Empire League championship series.

The Crabs will open the big series against the Healdsburg Prune Packers at the Arcata Ball Park on Tuesday night, with the teams then heading to Healdsburg for game two and possibly a game three on Thursday and Friday nights.

And you can expect a big crowd on hand and a great atmosphere for the Crabs’ first-ever PEL championship series game on Tuesday in the second year of the recently-formed league.

The Crabs came into the weekend third in the league standings, but they took care of business with three wins over the Medford Rogues, including an exciting and hard-fought 10-7 win on Sunday afternoon.

But they needed some help elsewhere to overtake the Lincoln Potters for second place, and they got exactly that.

The red-hot Potters, who had knocked off the Packers twice last week, lost to the West Coast Kings on Saturday night, 9-7 in 12 innings.

That opened the door for the Crabs and they took full advantage of the opportunity, holding their nerve late in Sunday’s series finale to hold on for the victory.

With the visitors closing the gap to one late in the game, the Crabs added two insurance runs on RBI doubles by Keenan Morris and Liam Forsyth in the bottom of the eighth.

Then local collegiate summer club also won 6-3 on Friday night and 9-2 on Saturday.

Myles Standish posted his team-leading sixth win of the summer on the mound on Friday, including four in league play.

The former Eureka Logger, who is now 6-0, gave up five hits and a walk in six innings and struck out five.

The Crabs broke open a tight game on Saturday with six runs in the bottom of the fifth.

No game time has yet been announced for Tuesday night’s game.

Humboldt Crabs Baseball