Crabs eliminate A's then sweep Pearl to win Far West League title
The Times-Standard
Neil Tarpey/The Times-Standard ARCATA -- They won the title the hard way, losing the tournament opener and then having to win four consecutive games. Ultimately they won it with excellent starting pitching. The
Humboldt Crabs defeated the Neptune Beach Pearl 5-1 and 6-3 in a pair
of tournament championship games -- after beating Fontanetti's A's 7-2
in an elimination game -- to win three games on Sunday and capture the
2011 Far West League championship at the Arcata Ball Park. ”Brant
Cummings and the Neptune Beach Pearl, I thought this was their year,
but we were resilient and pulled it out,” said Crabs manager Matt
Nutter. “I knew we had the pitching, so I thought if we hit we could do
it.” In its four-game tournament win streak, Humboldt's four
starting pitchers -- Aaron West, Cedar Morgan, Kyle Crawford and Zach
Morgan -- put on a marvelous display, as they allowed a combined four
earned runs (six runs total) and threw 32 of the final 36 innings. ”They're
(the pitchers) the ones who kept us winning games,” said Crabs head
coach Robin Guiver. “Even when we were in offensive slumps, they kept us
in games.” In the day's final game -- the 5-1 clincher --
Humboldt's Zach Morgan pitched six strong innings, surrendering an
unearned run and four singles, while striking out six. Joey Van Cleave followed with two innings of shutout relief, and three-year veteran John Austin wrapped it up by striking out the final batter before his teammates rushed to the mound to celebrate Austin
Prott crushed a solo homer to center in the fourth that proved to be
the winning run. Casey Watkins walked twice and scored both times, and
Nick Latta contributed a pair of singles. Greg Ditmer stroked
two of the Pearl's six hits and scored his team's only run when Eddie
Sorondo singled him home in the second inning. In the first
championship game, Crawford pitched eight strong innings, allowing only
two earned runs as he scattered eight hits. Austin earned the save by
pitching a scoreless ninth. Mike Senter homered and singled for
Neptune Beach, Will Sparks doubled and singled, and Jeff Stephens and
Graeme Agate also contributed two baggers. For Humboldt, Ivory Thomas homered and scored twice, while Latta singled twice and kn ocked in two runs. But the Crabs key performer was left-fielder Matt Lopez, who batted 4 for 5 with a run and a ribbie. On
defense, Lopez caught a potential sacrifice fly and lasered an
on-the-fly throw home where catcher Watkins tagged out Spenser Payne for
a double play that ended the fourth inning. Back in the first inning
Lopez also fired to third baseman David Del Grande who tagged out
Stephens thinking of stretching a double into a triple. In
Sunday's 10 a.m. game, Cedar Morgan had a no-hitter for 6 1-3 innings,
and finished with a complete-game five-hitter in the Crabs' 7-2 victory.
”My dad just got into town and it's the first time he saw me
pitch up here,” Morgan said about his father, Wayne, who once played AAA
baseball for the Houston Astros. “It's the last day here and we want to
win it, to do it for the fans. We got a good early lead and I just
tried to let my defense do the work.” Thomas had the game's big
hit when he launched a colossal three-run homer that cleared the
triple-tier fence at the 380-foot mark and sailed out onto U.S. Highway
101 South. Thomas finished with two hits, as did Del Grande, who smacked
a double. Nick Backlund's two-run single in the ninth scored Scott Masik and John Hanley and helped Fontanetti's avoid the shutout. ”It
was two good teams going at it, and it's very hard to beat a good team
twice,” said A's manager Steve Cannady, whose team nipped Humboldt 1-0
on Friday night. “They (Crabs) did what they needed to do, they got on
top early and we couldn't get to their pitcher.” On Saturday
night, West's complete-game 12-strikeout performance in the Crabs' 2-0
shutout against the Atwater Aviators kept Humboldt alive and gave it the
chance to play -- and sweep -- three games Sunday. The Crabs finished the season with a 40-13 record and won the league championship in the first year of the Far West League. ”It
was a great tournament,” said Neptune Beach manager Brant Cummings. “It
was the first year of the league and we went through some growing
pains, but when it was over it was a success.” CRABS POSTSEASON AWARDS Ivory Thomas, Most Valuable Player Aaron West, Most Valuable Pitcher David Del Grande, Offensive Player of the Year Austin Prott, Defensive Player of the Year Jason Mahood, Coaches Award Sunday's Boxes: 2nd Championship Game Humboldt Crabs 5, Neptune Beach Pearl 1 Crabs 001 301 000 -- 5 8 2 Pearl 010 000 000 -- 1 6 2 Pitching Crabs
-- (WP) Z. Morgan, 6 IP, 4H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO (RP) J. Van Cleave, 2
IP, 1H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO (SV) J. Austin, 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO Pearl -- (LP) D. Mitchell, 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 1 SO (RP) M. Kershner, 3 IP, 1H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO Hitting Crabs
-- Thomas 1-5, RBI; Ayers 0-5, R; Mahood 1-4, RBI; Del Grande 1-3;
Eshelman 1-3; Prott 1-4, HR, R, RBI; Watkins 0-2, 2R; Latta 2-4, R, RBI;
B. Morgan 1-4 Pearl -- Agate 1-3; Sparks 1-4; Ditmer 2-4, R; Sorondo 1-2; Bekakis 1-4 1st Championship Game Humboldt Crabs 6, Neptune Beach Pearl 3 Crabs 102 100 200 -- 6 11 1 Pearl 010 100 010 -- 3 9 2 Pitching Crabs -- (WP) K. Crawford, 8 IP, 8H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO (SV) J. Austin, 1 IP, 1H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO Pearl -- (LP) F. Duncan, 7 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 HBP, 1 SO (RP) N. Pasquale, 2 IP, 1H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 1 SO Hitting Crabs
-- Thomas 1-3, HR, 2R, RBI; Lopez 4-5, R, RBI; Mahood 2-5, RBI; Prott
1-5; Eshelman 0-5, R; Del Grande 0-1, R; Watkins 1-5; Latta 2-5, R, 2
RBIs Pearl -- Stephens 1-4, 2B, R; Agate 1-4, 2B, RBI; Senter
2-3, HR, R, RBI; Ditmer 0-3; Payne 1-4, 2B; Sparks 2-4, RBI; Louie 1-3;
Merjano 1-3 Elimination Game Humboldt Crabs 7, Fontanetti's A's 2 A's 000 000 002 -- 2 5 4 Crabs 016 000 00x -- 7 7 1 Pitching A's -- (LP) C. Gartner, 4 IP, 6H, 7 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO (RP) S. Silva, 4 IP, 1H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 SO Crabs -- (WP) C. Morgan, CG, 9 IP, 5 H, 2, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO Hitting A's -- Masik 1-3, R; Hanley 1-4, R; Frazier 1-3; Backlund 1-4, 2 RBIs; Martz 1-2 Crabs
--Thomas 2-3, HR, R, 3 RBIs; Mahood 1-4, R; Prott 0-3, R; Eshelman 1-3,
R, RBI; Del Grande 2-4, 2B, R, RBI; Gappa 1-4; Latta 0-3, R; B. Morgan
0-3, R |
West grounds Aviators, Crabs must win trio today for title
The Times-Standard
Neil Tarpey/The Times-Standard ARCATA -- He zipped a steady stream of knee-high strikes. Aaron
West, in a dominating final performance on the mound for the Humboldt
Crabs, threw a complete-game, six hit shutout to help his team beat the
Atwater Aviators 2-0 in the Far West League postseason championship
tournament Saturday night at the Arcata Ball Park. Saturday's Tournament Results: Far West League Championship Tournament at Arcata Ball Park (2) Atwater Aviators 3, (5) Redding Colt .45s 0 (Colt .45s eliminated) (3) Neptune Beach Pearl 8, (4) Fontanetti's A's 2 A's 001 000 001 -- 2 10 1 Pearl 060 000 20x -- 8 17 2 (1) Humboldt Crabs 2, (2) Atwater Aviators 0 (Aviators eliminated) Atwater 000 000 000 -- 0 6 0 Humboldt 001 010 00x -- 2 6 0 Pitching Aviators --(LP) V. Pacchetti, 7 IP, 5H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 6 SO (RP) J. Fraguila, 1 IP, 1H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO Crabs -- (WP) A. West, CG, 9 IP, 6H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 SO Hitting Aviators -- Pollard 1-4; Giza 1-4; Wagner 1-3; Lynch 1-3; Laing 1-3, 2B; Medeiros 1-3 Crabs -- Thomas 1-4, RBI; Mahood 2-4; Del Grande 1-3; Latta 1-3, R; Morgan 1-2, R |
Sun Aug 7/11 6:00pm:
