Humboldt Crabs Baseball – Jackson Kelly’s no-hitter was one of the highlights of the summer for the Humboldt Crabs.

By Ray Hamill — Year one for new Crabs manager Jeff Giacomini is almost in the books, and by any standards it has to be considered a success.

The Crabs will close out the 2026 season this weekend, as they get set to host the Placer County Peloteros at the Arcata Ball Park, and if they can sweep the three games they will finish the summer with 40 wins in 53 games.

Yes, they failed to reach this year’s Pacific Empire League championship series and finished fourth in the standings after dropping 12 of 25 league games, which was a disappointment for a club and fanbase accustomed to winning games against the best collegiate summer clubs on the West Coast.

But it was another memorable summer at the Arcata Ball Park nonetheless, and as always the players served up a highly-entertaining two months for the fans, reminding us of why this team is such a special part of the North Coast summers.

“I’m very proud of this year’s team,” Giacomini said. “They did everything I asked them to do and they worked their tails off.”

So too has Giacomini, who took over this year from longtime Crabs manager Robin Guiver after serving as an assistant coach with the team for much of the past decade.

Giacomini admits it was an adjustment, but it was a challenge he gladly took on.

“It’s a different role,” Giacomini said, adding that he missed the opportunity to work one-on-one with the players the way he has in the past. “There’s a lot more as a manager. You’ve got to look at the bigger picture. You have to really control who you are because everybody looks to you to kind of set the tempo.”

Giacomini relied a lot on his staff, a group that included returning assistant coach John Bryant, as well as new additions Matt Tomlin and Tommy Gale.

And he was more than happy with the contributions each of them made.

“I thought my coaching staff did a terrific job of being there for the guys,” he said. “I missed running the offense and giving up third base. I loved running the offense. But I absolutely trust JB. There’s nobody better to coach third base and run the offense, and he did a fantastic job.”

There were also several highlights for the team this summer, most notably a no-hitter thrown by former McKinleyville Panther Jackson Kelly in a game the Crabs had to win against the West Coast Kings to keep their league hopes alive, as well as Colton Boardman’s walk-off grand slam to beat the Stockton Pearls in extra innings on Father’s Day.

A walk-off win against the Humboldt Eagles in the first week of the season was another memorable showdown.

“Overall, I think it was a success,” said Giacomini, who described Boardman’s big blast as “amazing.”

“There were several very memorable moments,” he added.

That kind of resiliency was characteristic of the 2026 Crabs.

“What impressed me the most about this year’s team was probably their response to adversity,” the new manager said. “There were some moments we were down, but we were never out of it. At any point of time we could put up an eight spot. I really liked their response to adversity, and I really like how they had each other’s back.”

Several players stood out for the team all summer, including second-year Crab Adam Enyart, who has described playing for the team as special and Crabs fans as “second to nobody.”

Giacomini and the team coaches will hand their end-of-season awards after Sunday’s season finale, but one player the new manager did single out this week for his impressive play was Alex Harrington.

The Stanford-bound shortstop just graduated from high school this year but did not look out of place playing alongside Division-1 players.

“He’s mature and ready, and he has all the tools,” Giacomini said of Harrington. “This kid is now ready for Division-1 baseball. I’m proud of the progress he made.”

This summer also saw the release of the new documentary film on the history of the team, “Lou’s Team: The Story of the Humboldt Crabs,” produced by longtime Crabs fan Conor Fitzgerald.

The film has been well received by fans and players and does an excellent job of capturing the essence of the history of the club and what the Crabs mean to local fans.

“He did a phenomenal job,” Giacomini said. “Connor just did a terrific job. It really captured a lot of the history of the Humboldt Crabs, and really just how big this thing is.”

The Crabs are a huge part of the North Coast summer sports landscape and have been for 82 years.

And the new manager, who is a former Crabs player and a club hall-of-famer, is proud to be a part of that incredible tradition.

“I credit everybody in our support system and our fans,” he said. “We exist because of our fans.”

The new manager also singled out three other people who played a particularly important role in helping him navigate his first year in charge of the club.

“I’m very appreciative to my wife Mona and my two kids,” he said. “The big thing is I got to share this experience with my family. My kids had 30 big brothers for the summer. Sharing this experience with my family is probably my favorite part.”

And Giacomini hopes that continues well into the future.

“I’m honored to do it,” he said. “And I will do it for as long as they let me, and I will work my tail off.”