If high temperatures were cause for canceling a baseball game, at least half a dozen matchups would have been called off so far this year. Those games started with the thermometer above the century mark, 100 degrees F. From opening day on June 5 to this weekend’s meeting with the West Coast Kings, mercury-busting heat as been the norm rather than the exception.
But the Healdsburg Prune Packers play on, like the other summer teams along the coast, gamely taking the mound and running the bases and chasing the fly balls until the final score is logged.
PEL Playoffs
UPDATE: The three-game Pacific Empire League championship playoff begins Tuesday, July 30, with a game on the No. 2 seed’s field. As of the last day of the season, July 28, the Lincoln Potters held on to their second-place finish, so Game One will be held at their home field in Lincoln, McBean Stadium.
Thereafter, Game Two of the series will be played in Healdsburg on Thursday, Aug. 1. Game Three—if necessary—will again be at Rec Park, with an expected 5pm first pitch on Friday, Aug. 2.
Last Week in Play
Having already clinched the No. 1 seed in the inaugural playoffs of the Pacific Empire League, the Prune Packers headed north for a three-game series with the then-surging Humboldt Crabs, at their home field in Arcata. Tuesday, July 16, saw the visitors limber up with two 3-run innings in the middle frames, and two 2-run innings on either side. Connor Charpiot and Eammon Lance both drove in three, both of them with home runs.
Both of the Crabs’ runs—the final score was 11-2—came off starting pitcher Derek Schaefer, who got the win. Then coach Joey Gomes gave four different pitchers an inning or two of work to spread it around.
Wednesday night was a much quieter game with Wyatt Tucker giving up only a single run in his four innings, which the Pack didn’t match until Maddox Molony drove in a run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly. Two more came across in the seventh inning on two wild pitches from Humboldt’s Max Hippensteel for the eventual 4-1 Healdsburg win.
But the Humboldt players didn’t want to let the home crowd down, and pulled out a win in the series on Thursday night. The Crabs, behind clutch pitching and fielding, shut out the Prune Packers 6-0 for the only time yet this season. Starting pitcher Jaden Alba got the loss, his first of the year, giving up three runs in the first inning while the Healdsburg long-ball hitters took the night off.
Taking a night off from the pressures of the PEL race, the Packers welcomed the West Coast Kings Black team to town on Friday. The first inning saw Jonas Salk hit a bases-loaded double for three runs, which is more than the home team needed for the 6-1 win.
Saturday night, the final game of the week, took place at Rec Park against the Solano Mudcats, a team that seems to give the Packers a bit of trouble every time they play, though they had yet to win. And so the two teams met for the third time on another 100-degree day, playing to a 3-3 tie through eight innings.
In the top of the ninth, the Mudcats’ Michael Benevides—who in the fifth inning had been hit in the back by starter Elliot Joslin—got his revenge. Finn Chapman walked Mason Sayer on four pitches to end his three innings of work, then reliever Alec Belardes came in to give up three hits, one of them a bases-loaded single by Benevides that scored what turned out to be the winning runs.
Chapman was tagged with the loss, however, as the go-ahead run was the player he walked, Sayer.
The final score was 5-3, Solano, the second loss the Packers endured in three games.
Sunday’s matinee game saw the Packers take out their frustrations on the West Coast Kings, scoring four times in the first and seven times in the fourth inning to win 14-4.
View From the Top
With little over a week to go, the first Pacific Empire League season is shaping up to be a dogfight, although one of those dogs is running away with first place. Healdsburg’s Prune Packers, coming off three successive championships in the California Collegiate Conference, remain the odds-on favorite to “four-peat” with another league title.
But it ain’t over till the last strike is called, or the winning run crosses the plate. And even though there’s only a literal handful of games left to play this season (meaning five), a lot of good baseball remains to be played. The Packers have a 21-4 league record, far ahead of the Lincoln Potters (12-10) and Humboldt Crabs (13-11).
After a Tuesday night game in Rocklin against the Lincoln Potters, the Packers welcome the Potters to Rec Park on Wednesday night, for the last league game of the season. The next three games are against non-league teams: Friday 6pm against the Alameda Anchors, Saturday evening against the legendary San Francisco Seals and the Sunday, July 28, finale at 6pm against the Anchors again.
Baseball Draft
The Major League Baseball draft currently underway has already found five former Prune Packers picked up by big-league teams, though most of them will be sent to minor-league teams for seasoning.
Not every player in the many “semi-pro” leagues in the country is eligible. Players who have graduated high school but not attended college are eligible for the draft, as are those who have completed at least one year of junior college. Players attending four-year colleges are eligible to be drafted upon completing their junior year or turning 21 years old.
And there are tens of thousands of players; so many are called, so few are chosen.
Blake Burke was chosen by the Milwaukee Brewers as the 34th pick in the draft. He played first base for Healdsburg in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, though he’s only a junior at Tennessee.
Ivan Brethowr came to the Packers midway through last season and brought a charge of power-hitting to the line up. The Chicago Cubs picked him up.
Pierce George and Andres Galan, both also on the 2023 roster, found their way to the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, respectively.
Christian Becerra, a 2022 Packer, answered the call from the Minnesota Twins.
