Humboldt Crabs Baseball

By Ray Hamill — In his first year in charge of the Humboldt Crabs, Jeff Giacomini has three goals in mind for his players — health, development and winning ball games.

And halfway through his inaugural campaign as manger of the longtime local collegiate summer club, Giacomini and his players are succeeding in all three.

The Crabs are healthy as they set for an important stretch run, the players are developing, and the team is certainly winning its fair share of games and is well positioned to compete for a first Pacific Empire League championship.

With an overall record of 23-4, no other league team has won more games, and the Crabs are second in the PEL standings with a league record of 7-3, trailing only the Healdsburg Prune Packers (9-2 and 19-3).

Giacomini and his players did suffer a slight setback on Thursday night when they saw their nine-game winning streak end against the Solano Mudcats, opening a five-game weekend league series with a 6-3 loss.

The good news is they won’t have to wait long to try and get back on track with a Friday night doubleheader beginning at 5:30 p.m.

“We just couldn’t get that big inning,” Giacomini said. “But the good thing about baseball is we’ve got two more games (on Friday).”

The Crabs will also face off against the Mudcats (6-6 and 11-7) in an always fun Fourth of July showdown on Saturday afternoon at 2:30.

And, as always, you can expect a large crowd on hand at the Arcata Ball Park for the holiday matchup.

“They’re special,” Giacomini said of the July Fourth games. “It’s just great to see the community show up and honor the pastime of baseball, and nobody does it better than us. It’s a huge deal for the community and it’s a huge deal for the organization.”

After being held to a season-low three runs in Thursday’s loss, the normally high-scoring Crabs, who had averaged more than 13 runs a game in their previous six games, will be hoping to get back on track in Friday’s doubleheader.

Scoring runs has not been a problem for the team this year.

“Our offensive approach at the plate has been spot on and we’re very explosive,” Giacomini said. “At any given time we can put up an eight spot in an inning. That’s how explosive our offense is. I’m real happy with what our offense is doing and at the halfway point I like where we’re at.”

Three of the team’s regular players are averaging at least .400 at the plate, a group that includes Jaden Shabry (.442), Kawana Soares (.414) and Mike Pickett (.400), while five others are averaging .370 or better.

“We’re fortunate and lucky with the amount of depth we have this year,” Giacomini said. 

Among a large contingent of local players, outfielder Daniel Osborne of Fortuna has been setting the standard at the plate and is batting .328 in his first summer with the team.

“He’s been solid for us all year,” Giacomini said of Osborne. “His defensive ability and his approach at the plate has been very good.”

Soares, meanwhile, is one of four team catchers that have been contributing on both sides of the plate and helping their pitchers.

“I’m real happy with the catchers that we have,” the manager said. “They’ve been really helpful with the success of our pitching staff.”

Humboldt Crabs Basebasll