Photos by Matt Filar/Humboldt Crabs Baseball – Aidan Dorsch in action for the Crabs on Friday night.

New Crabs manager Jeff Giacomini didn’t have to wait long for his first win in charge of the team, and he can thank some local pitchers for helping him achieve it.

The local summer collegiate team kickstarted the new season with a series sweep of the Novato Knicks at the Arcata Ball Park over the weekend.

They opened with a 13-0 win on Friday night, before winning 12-1 on Saturday night and 14-6 on Sunday afternoon.

Three former H-DNL pitchers featured on the mound in Friday’s opener and they combined to carry a no-hitter into the eighth inning.

St. Bernard’s graduate Aidan Dorsch got the start and the win, throwing six hitless innings while allowing four walks and striking out six.

Arcata’s Ben Lukens (two innings, one hit, one walk and two strikeouts) and McKinleyville’s Jackson Kelly (one inning, no hits, two walks and two strikeouts) both also made their season debuts in relief.

The local contingent of pitchers continued to make their presence felt in Saturday’s win.

Fortuna’s Cody Collins got the start in game two of the series and threw three innings for the win, allowing four hits and two walks and striking out three.

All of the pitchers got plenty of run support, as the Crabs bats came ready to go and racked up 39 runs on 38 hits over the three games.

Eight different Crabs players hit successfully in game one, including seven doubles for the team.

Jason Arriola led the way at the plate and hit successfully in all three games, including two doubles in the opener and two more base hits on Saturday night.

Damian Casas provided the offensive highlight of the weekend with the first Crabs home run of the summer in Sunday’s win.

Former Fortuna Husky Daniel Osborne enjoyed a successful debut with the team, finishing with a base hit on Friday and Sunday.

For the weekend, Osborne also had four RBIs, three runs and three walks.

Among the other offensive highlights of the weekend, third baseman Mike Pickett finished with five hits in two games.

Pickett got his first start of the summer on Saturday night and finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run, and he followed that by going 3-for-5 on Sunday with a double, an RBI and three runs.

Catcher Liam Forsyth also impressed with base hits in this first two starts of the summer.

Forsyth finished 4-for-5 with a double, three RBIs and three runs in Saturday’s win and was 1-for-5 with a double and an RBI on Sunday.

Jack Novak got the start on the hill on Sunday and threw four scoreless innings for the win, giving up just two hits and two walks and striking out six.

Lukens and Kelly were among the four pitchers used in relief.

The 3-0 Crabs will try to make four wins in four games when they host the Humboldt Eagles 19Us in their annual early-season matchup on Wednesday night, with first pitch set for 7.

Submitted photo – Aidan Dorsch and St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin, who is an assistant coach with the Crabs this summer.