After starting the season 12-0, the Humboldt Crabs took to the road last week to start off league play with a series against the Lincoln Potters. The Potters entered the series undefeated as well, and would prove to be the first real test of the summer for our Crabbies.
In game one, after weeks of offensive dominance, it would be the Crabs’ pitching staff that would step up and be the difference to start a hard-fought series.
While the Potters jumped out to an early lead, scoring a run in the first, the Lincoln team’s time at the top was short-lived. A Tyler Howard single evened things up for the good guys in the top of the second. Things stayed that way until the Crabs broke through with two runs in the fifth. Howard reached base via a walk and Everett Johnson scored on a wild pitch. Jaden Shabry, who has been off to a hot start for the Crabs, added to the momentum with an RBI single to drive in Howard and the Crabs found themselves in the driver’s seat at 3-1.
The real story of the game was the Crabs’ pitching staff. Aiden Dorsch had a formidable outing, giving up a single run over three-plus innings of work, but the standout performance of the game came from reliever Evan Miranda out of San Diego State University. Miranda would toe the line for four-plus innings, allowing a single run while striking out 10 and walking just a single hitter to protect the lead for the Crabs. “I like pitching in high leverage situations and I had everything working tonight. It felt good to come through in a big spot especially against a good team in our league,”said Miranda. Following Miranda was two-way standout Adam Enyart, who entered the game with a one run lead in the ninth. Enyart proved to have ice in his veins as he threw a scoreless ninth to give the Crabs their first save of the year and their first conference win while moving to 13-0. Overall, the Crabs’ pitching would combine for 16 strikeouts while winning a one-run game in which they were out hit 10-5. Crabbies took game one 3-2.
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Game two started off with some promise as the Crabs jumped out to an early four-run lead in the second behind a single from Howard that would plate two. Ryan VandenBrink drove in another run following an error and the Crabs were in the driver’s seat. It was short lived. In the third, the Potters plated nine runs, then scored again in the fourth and tacked on two more in the eighth to run away with game two 12-4, handing our Crabs their first loss of the summer.
On getaway day, the Potters scored early and often, playing runs in all but two innings. One in the first, two in third and fourth and runs in innings sixth through eighth kept the Crabs in the rearview. The Crabs did not go down without a fight, rallying for three in the eighth, but it was too little too late. Six Crabs’ pitchers took the mound but none of them seemed to have the answer that day. Howard and Alex Harrington each drove in a pair of runs, but it wasn’t enough and the Crabs dropped the game and the series 8-5.
After a hot start, then being brought back down to earth, the Crabs returned home to the friendly confines of the Arcata Ball Park against the Stockton Pearls as the boys looked to get their mojo back Friday night. After several scoreless innings, the Crabbies broke through in the fourth. Aided by four errors from the Pearls, the Crabs jumped out to a four to nothing lead. In the sixth, a Colton Boardman RBI double extended the lead to 6. A Kawana Soares single was tacked on in the eighth. The real story, again, was the pitching staff. Returning Miles Oliver threw six shutout innings and the Crabbies also got scoreless innings from Jackson Kelly and Enyart to lock up a much needed 10-2 win in their homecoming.
In game two, the Pearls came out swinging and a three-run first inning had the Crabs playing catch up all game. The Pearls added another in the second but the Crabbies added two in the third and one in the fourth to keep things close. The Pearls scored consistently and pulled away until a late surge from our boys in the ninth. Walks and errors got things going and plateted a few runs for the Crabs before an Eli Burnham double plated two to make things interesting. Ultimately, the rally fell short and the Crabs went home reeling after their third loss of the week, falling short 12-10 going into Sunday. While Jamie Mullins’ second home run of the summer at home was lost in the mix, it was a key part of the late surge for the Crabs.
Sunday was Father’s Day and the Crabs were looking to break even for the week after a tough six-day slate and a similar week with big league games looming. In front of 1,113 fans, the Crabs’ faithful brought the energy to the ballpark. It was a quiet game early on, with the Pearls jumping on top with a run on the third. There wouldn’t be anymore scoring until the sixth, when the Crabs’ bats came alive and put up a three spot. Mullin was at the center of the action, hitting a three-run homer, his third of the season, putting the good guys in the driver’s seat. The Pearls answered back with a pair of runs in their seventh and the back-and-fourth game remained tied and went into extras. The Pearls pushed across a run to go up 6-5 headed into the bottom of the 10th when Boardman came up with the biggest hit of the summer so far for the Crabs. The Cal State Northridge product entered the game with solid numbers, hitting .333 with 10 stolen bases, but Sunday afternoon shined a new light on the freshman. Trailing 6-5, the lefty sent a pitch into oblivion and lore with a walk-off grand slam in front of a huge crowd to salvage a tough week for the Crabs, who walked off victorious 9-6.
Brandon Dixon (he/him) is a former All American who played college baseball for Orange Coast College, Point Loma Nazarene and the Peninsula Oilers. Father to two little girls, he’s also the host of The Brando Show podcast.
This article appears in Miranda’s Rescue Under Scrutiny, Part 2.
