Potters avoid sweep at Humboldt with lopsided win

The Lincoln Potters salvaged a win Sunday to close a three-game weekend series against the Humboldt Crabs in Arcata, avoiding a sweep with a decisive 14-1 victory. Lincoln dropped the series opener 14-10 on Friday and fell 3-2 in extra innings on Saturday, making Sunday's victory critical in a tight Pacific Empire League race. The Potters opened the scoring in the third inning on an RBI double by Bryan Williams Jr. Jason Hanson, Aiden Chang and Zach Story kept the party going with RBI singles, giving Lincoln an early four-run cushion. The game was blown wide open in the sixth inning, as the Potters scored five runs on a two-RBI single by Williams and a three-run homer by Adam Paniagua, his third of the summer. Lincoln added more insurance runs in the eighth and ninth, cruising to a lopsided win. Eric Vasser earned the win on the mound, striking out six and allowing one run on three hits in five innings. Nic Bronzini, Jake Morell and Quinten Marsh combined for the final four innings, shutting out the Crabs on three hits. Lincoln returned home Tuesday to host the California Tigers in its final nonleague bout of the season, picking up a 6-5 victory to improve to 21-5 overall. Ty McGraw put the Potters on top with his third home run, scorching a two-run homer at 106 miles per hour off the bat to make it 5-4. Everet Johnson hit his first home run of the summer as well with a 392-foot, three-run blast in the fourth inning. Tyler Hutchinson earned the win in relief, throwing 1⅔ innings and striking out three. Lincoln is home against the West Coast Kings on Friday for its annual Independence Day game, followed by fireworks. Entering the last month of the regular season, the Potters are tied for third in the PEL with the Crabs and are a half-game behind second-place Medford.