Humboldt Crabs

Humboldt Crabs
Humboldt Crabs
League	Far West League (North)
Location	Arcata, California
Ballpark	Arcata Ball Park
Year Founded	1945
Colors	Blue, Red and White

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[edit] Description and brief background

The Humboldt Crabs are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Arcata, California. Playing in every season since they were founded in 1945 by Lou Bonomini, later joined by Ned Barsuglia, the Crabs are the oldest continually-operated summer collegiate baseball team in American baseball.^[1]^[2]

In the 67-year history of the Humboldt Crabs, over 300 players have continued on to play professional baseball, with over 60 former Crabs going all the way to the Major Leagues^[3]. A few examples are Garth Iorg, Dane Iorg, and Wally Scott^[4]^[5]. John Oldham, a Crabs pitcher in 1952-53, was the first to make it all the way, playing for the Cincinnati Reds in 1956^[6]. More recently, Leo Rosales, who pitched for the 2002 Crabs^[7], was called up to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2008^[8].

The Crabs play the majority of their games at home at the Arcata Ball Park,^[9] owned by the City of Arcata.^[10] The team is made up of college players from different NCAA programs throughout the U.S. The Humboldt Crabs are a non-profit baseball organization operated by a 14-member all-volunteer Board of Directors. Major rivals include the Redding Colt .45s, the Southern Oregon Riverdawgs, the Fontanetti's Athletics, and the Humboldt Steelheads.^[11]

In 2007, the team's 63rd consecutive season, the Crabs overall season record was 42 and 12;^[12] in 2008, the Crabs drew an average of 874 fans to the ball park and went 35 and 13 for the season;^[13] in 2009 the Crabs record was 48 and 11;^[14] in their 66th season, 2010, the Crabs went 43 and 9.^[15] Their 67th consecutive season began with the Annual Season Opening Dinner on June 3, 2011 (always the first Friday in June).^[16] Regular-season play ended July 31, with post-season Tournament play August 5-7, 2011.

[edit] Far West League

The Crabs currently play in the Far West League (FWL), which has ten teams participating in the 2011 season. The five-team FWL North Division includes the Humboldt Crabs, Nor Cal Pirates, Redding Colt .45s, Nevada Bullets (formerly Reno Aces), and Southern Oregon RiverDawgs. The five-team FWL South Division includes the Atwater Aviators, Fontanetti's Athletics, Neptune Beach Pearl, California Glory, and Fresno Cardinals. The Crabs were part of the West Coast League/Tri-State^[17] (which was associated with the West Coast League in the Pacific Northwest) then merged with the Pacific West Baseball League to form the FWL. (The California Seals were originally an eleventh team in the FWL but are on hiatus for the 2011 season.)

[edit] 2011 League Champions

This inaugural year of the Far West League culminated with the top five League teams competing in a double-elimination Tournament, hosted by the Humboldt Crabs and played in the Arcata Ball Park, August 5-7. The Humboldt Crabs (21 - 6), with the best record in regular season league play, were the top-seeded team, but lost their first game to fourth-seed Fontanetti's Athletics, 1-0,^[18] on August 5. To avoid being eliminated, the Crabs had to win four games in a row. On August 6, the Crabs shut out the Atwater Aviators, 2-0,^[19] in an elimination game. On August 7 the Crabs won three games in one day, starting with Fontanetti's Athletics, 7-2,^[20] (who had beaten the Crabs 2 of 3 games in regular-season play); then facing the Neptune Beach Pearl who had won 8 of their previous 9 games, and who were as yet undefeated in the Tournament. By winning four in a row, including 6-3^[21] and 5-1^[22] wins over the Pearl, the Crabs avoided elimination and won the tournament and the championship.^[23]

The Humboldt Crabs finished the 2011 season with records of 40-13 overall, 25-7 in League/Conference play.^[24]

The Humboldt Crabs rank #22 from among over 220 summer collegiate league teams in the nation for the week of August 9, 2011, by Perfect Game USA.^[25]

The Far West League plans to conduct a season-ending championship event every year. While this year’s tournament was hosted by the Humboldt Crabs, subsequent tournaments could be held in other Far West League team locations.

[edit] 2011 Player Awards

Following the conclusion of the final Far West League Tournament game, Coaches Matt Nutter and Robin Guiver gave out the 2011 player awards as follows:^[26]

Most Valuable Player: Ivory Thomas (CF)
Most Valuable Pitcher: Aaron West (RHP)
Defensive Player of the Year: Austin Prott (1B)
Offensive Player of the Year: David Del Grande (IF)
"Coaches Award" - Kevin Morsching/Scott Heinig Memorial Award: Jason Mahood (2B)

[edit] Organization

Humboldt Crabs Fan Appreciation Day 2010

[edit] President

Matt Filar

[edit] Coaching staff^[27]

Matt Nutter, Manager
Robin Guiver, Head Coach
Mike Jordt, Assistant Coach/Camp Director
Tyson Fisher, Assistant Coach.

Trainers: Nate Kees, Eric Imrie

[edit] 2011 team roster^[28]

John Austin, LHP; Andrew Ayers, IF; Kyle Cerrudo, C; Adam Clear, 3B/SS; Kyle Crawford, LHP; Jordan Davis, C; Chris DeBoo, RHP; David DelGrande, IF; Bryndon Ecklund, OF; Gene Escat, RHP; Paul Eshleman, C; Cody Gappa, IF/OF; Justin Higley, OF; Nick Latta, SS; Matt Lopez, IF/OF; Ryan Lucas, RHP; Jimmy MacWilliam, LHP; Jason Mahood, 2B; Peter Miller, RHP/IF; Brett Morgan, RHP/OF; Cedar Morgan, RHP; Zach Morgan, RHP; Dylan Morrow, RHP; Zach O'Hanen, RHP; Austin Prott, OF/1B; Victor Soto, RHP; Ivory Thomas, IF/OF; Joey Van Cleave, RHP; Casey Watkins, OF/C; Aaron West, RHP

[edit] Board of Directors^[29]

President Matt Filar, Ellen Barthman, John Fesler, Erik Fraser, Stephanie Lane, Roger Lorenzetti, Tracy McCormack, Jerry Nutter, Carl Pellatz, Randy Robertson, Benjamin Shaeffer, Jon Stocum, Larry Zerlang, and the Alumni Liaison (currently vacant).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

This article about a baseball team in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[0] Humboldt Crabs, About Us (Humboldt Crabs website)

[1] North Coast Journal - August 1, 2002: COVER STORY

[2] Humboldt Crabs 2010 Official Program, page 14

[3] All-Time North Coast Baseball Team

[4] Humboldt Crabswebsite News Archive: A Good Time Was Had by All

[5] SJSA 2008 Hall of Fame inductee biographies: John Oldham

[6] North Coast Journal August 2002 Cover Story

[7] Baseball-Reference: Leo Rosales

[8] Arcata Ball Park

[9] City of Arcata, Sports Fields

[10] Humboldt Steelheads

[11] Humboldt Crabs 2007 Season Statistics

[12] Humboldt Crabs 2008 Season Statistics

[13] Humboldt Crabs 2009 Season Statistics

[14] Humboldt Crabs 2010 Season Statistics

[15] Humboldt Crabs web site

[16] Crabs will join WCL Tri-State in 2009

[17] Fontanetti Athletics vs Humboldt Crabs (Aug 05, 2011)

[18] Atwater Aviators vs Humboldt Crabs (Aug 06, 2011)

[19] Fontanetti Athletics vs Humboldt Crabs (Aug 07, 2011)

[20] Humboldt Crabs vs Neptune Beach Pearl (Aug 07, 2011, 2pm game)

[21] Humboldt Crabs vs Neptune Beach Pearl (Aug 07, 2011, 6pm game)

[22] Crabs are Best in the Far West

[23] Humboldt Crabs 2011 Season Statistics

[24] Perfect Game USA: Summer Collegiate Team Rankings 8/9/2011

[25] Handing Out the Hardware

[26] Humboldt Crabs 2011 Coaching Staff

[27] Humboldt Crabs 2011 Roster

[28] Humboldt Crabs Board of Directors

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Humboldt Crabs

Contents

[edit] Description and brief background