lincolnpotters.com

By Jordan Georgeson

The Lincoln Potters traveled up north to Arcata this weekend for a three-game weekend series with the Humboldt Crabs. The Potters entered the weekend with a 7-0 record after defeating the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox on Thursday night in their first road game of the season. 

Lincoln fell behind early on Friday night, with the Crabs taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the game. Starting pitcher Bradley Wilcott turned it on after the second run, retiring the next eleven batters he faced. WIllcott went six innings and only allowed two runs on two hits while striking out seven. The Potter offense tied the game up in the fourth with a sacrifice fly from Matt Voelker and an error by Humboldt. Voelker struck again in the sixth with a solo home run to give the Potters their first lead of the contest. They added two more in the seventh thanks to an RBI from CJ Valdez and Jack Grant scoring on a triple steal. The Crabs went on to tie the game at five in the bottom of the inning. Catcher Kenneth Jimenez brought a run home in the eighth to regain the lead and the Putters used a big ninth inning rally to win the game 9-5 and improve to 8-0 on the season. Eli Garcia earned the win in relief, pitching two and one third innings without allowing a single walk, run, or hit.

Easton Turnage took the mound on Saturday night looking to follow up his dominant performance in his Potters debut. Turnage fell behind early but only allowed four hits in his second start of the season. He also allowed two runs with only one earned. Lincoln’s bats struggled on Saturday and were only able to amount five hits in the contest while striking out fifteen times. The bright spot in the game offensively came in the sixth inning when CJ Valdez hit a solo homer, his first of the season. Unfortunately this would be the only offense that the Potters could produce as they lost their first game of the season 4-1.

Sunday’s rubber match between the Potters and the Crabs took thirteen innings to determine a winner, with both bullpens shutting down the opposing offense. Both teams scored early and often as the Potters brought one in from an RBI single from Matt Voelker in the first. The Crabs answered back quickly by getting two of their own in the bottom of the inning. Lincoln took the lead right back with a three-run second inning thanks to a two-RBI double from Trey Furrey and an RBI single from Jason Bradow. The Crabs scored another in the second and one in the sixth to knot the game up at four. Relievers Logan Bell and Josh Cohen shut down the Humboldt offense, combining for five innings and not allowing any runs. Neither offense was able to do much at the end of regulation and the start of extra innings until the thirteenth inning when Ethan Fischel hit a walk off single for the Crabs to take the series finale 5-4.

The Potters are back in action on Tuesday for their CCL opener as they head to Moraga to take on the Walnut Creek Crawdads. They return home on Wednesday to welcome CCL rivals the Healdsburg Prune Packers into town for their CCL home opener. Watch the Potters live on Facebook and listen on Potters Radio via the mixlr app. Also follow along on twitter @LincolnPotters to get live updates!

You can find the boxscores for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday here.