Crabs' streak snapped: Melino, pitching help crabs win in 10 before two-hit shutout
- June 28, 2009
Neil Tarpey
Staff Writer
ARCATA -- The guy who drove in the winning run gave credit where it was due.
”Our pitchers did an helluva job,” said Humboldt Crab Nick Melino. “They kept us in the game, especially when the hitting was weak after our first inning.”
Melino lined a sacrifice fly to center in the 10th inning that scored Isaac Vivas, giving the Crabs a 4-3 victory -- their 11th consecutive win -- over the California Glory in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.
The University of Nevada outfielder also doubled to knock in Karson Klauer with the Crabs first run, added a single in the eighth, and scored a run.
But Humboldt's streak ended there, as the Glory bounced back in the nightcap, taking a 1-0 victory behind Garrett Yrigoyen's complete-game two-hitter.
The home team's previous loss was a 4-3 decision to Fontanetti's exactly two weeks ago on June 13.
Yrigoyen, who was 2-4 with a RBI-triple in the first game, smacked a double in game two that scored Brett Morgan with the only run of the game.
Humboldt's Scott Heinig tossed six solid innings, while Klauer and Jeff Giacomini had the only two hits, as the Crabs overall record stands at 16-3 after the split.
In the first game, Humboldt's offense came out on fire in the bottom of the first, scoring three runs on four hits and a walk.
Tommy Pavesi followed Melino's double with one of his own that scored Brad Morgan, who singled, and Melino. On the play, the Glory executed a 7-6-5 relay to get Pavesi trying to stretch his two-bagger into a triple.
After the first inning, however, the Crabs mustered only three singles over the next eight innings.
The man on the bump who shut them down was Berto Rodriguez, a 5-foot-7 right-hander from Cal State East Bay, a college teammate of Humboldt's Greg Fisher.
Rodriguez, who tossed 2 1/3 innings of relief Friday, threw 9 2/3 innings of superb ball Saturday despite a broken blood blister on his finger in the seventh inning. He induced 11 fly-outs and struck out five, with the Crab's winning run being unearned due to a Glory infield miscue.
Glory first baseman Vince Canale twice snared hard one-hoppers to rob Pavesi, and the infield rolled a 6-4-3 DP to help render the Crabs' pincers harmless.
But as Melino aptly stated, the Crabs pitchers -- starter Davis Luna, and relievers Chris DeBoo and Travis McCracken -- were equal to Rodriguez's one-man shutdown.
The trio collectively allowed just four hits while striking out 10.
The Glory scored three unearned runs in the sixth inning.
The visitors used an infield error and a misplayed pickle to generate a threat, with Yrigoyen's two-out triple and Ryan Scornaienchai's single producing RBIs.
”We should have put some more hits together,” said Glory general manager Ron Bindell.
The Crabs' D shined multiple times. First basemen Brandon Hayes made two smooth scoops, Reiling dove to catch a Texas leaguer, second baseman Klauer climbed the ladder to grab a liner, and Morgan threw out a runner in the 10th.
The teams wrap up their series today with a single game starting at 12:30 p.m.