A tough road trip didn’t get any better for the Humboldt Crabs on Thursday night, while a pair of weekend games took on added significance.
Playing in Healdsburg, the Crabs fell to the Prune Packers for the third straight night, losing 8-2.
The hard-hitting home team hit three more home runs, giving them eight over the three-game series.
With the loss, the Crabs dropped to 11-6 in the Pacific Empire League standings (27-7 overall), falling further behind the league-leading Prune Packers, who improved to 13-3 and 24-4.
The loss also sees the Crabs drop out of the top two in the standings on percentage points, as the Medford Rogues leapfrogged them after completing a three-game sweep of the Lincoln Potters.
The Rogues are now 8-4 in league and 20-7 overall, as they get set to host the Crabs in a pivotal two-game series this weekend.
The two clubs will also play three games at the Arcata Ball Park later in the month and the five games between the two clubs could very well decide who joins Healdsburg in this year’s PEL Championship Series.
With Cody Collins impressing on the mound, the Crabs led for much of Thursday’s game, but the home team took control with six runs in the bottom of the fifth and would add two more runs an inning later to stretch the lead to six.
The Prune Packers out-hit the Crabs for the third straight game, this time by a margin of 13-8.
Collins pitched 4.2 innings, giving up five earned runs on six hits and a walk while striking out four.
Former Eureka Logger Cooper Ohlsen threw the final inning for the visitors and held the home team hitless.
Adam Enyart and Alex Harrington led the Crabs at the plate, as each finished 2-for-4.
Enyart had an RBI and Harrington hit a double.
Ryan VandenBrink added a home run, his second of the summer.
The Crabs will play at Medford on Friday night, with first pitch set for 6:05 p.m.
The game, as always, will be streamed live on the Crabs YouTube page and broadcast live on local radio (ESPN 107.3 FM, 1340 AM).
