By Caleb Knudsen
The dominance of the Healdsburg Prune Packers over the Pacific Empire League, and all of their Northern California rivals in college summer ball, continues. They opened the 2025 season on June 6 and reeled off eight straight victories before encountering PEL rival the Humboldt Crabs on June 18, losing the middle game of a three-game series by a 6-3 score.
A week later, on June 25, they lost their second game—again to another PEL team, the Medford Rogues. That 3-2 loss at Harry & David Field was a true anomaly in Prune Packer play this year, with the Rogues taking the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Since that date Healdsburg has won 10 straight games, besting their opening season streak. Their offensive attack continues to dominate opponents—14-2 over the Solano Mudcats, 18-0 over Pleasanton Jaxx and 18-1 over the Chico Wolves. The Packers don’t just win, they win big.
Ironically, looking at the league leaders, the Prune Packers do not show as completely dominant as one might expect. Yes, Jacob French leads the league with 36 runs batted in (RBIs); but the batting leader is Ty McGraw of the Lincoln Potters with a .462 average (though French is right behind him at .435). And Logan Sutter’s seven home runs are matched by the Crabs’ Cameron Sewell.
Pitcher Bronson Chapple of the Rogues has won five games, Myles Standish of the Humboldt Crabs has 42 strike-outs and Eric Vasser of the Lincoln Potters has an earned run average (ERA) of 1.10.
Taking a step back, while the Packers’ 22-2 league record puts them in first place, the runners-up Humboldt Crabs’ 25-4 record is only half a game behind, and the Rogues and Potters are tied for third two games back. So while Healdsburg is dominant and leading in the league, they are not the only team with a shot at the second PEL championship title.
Over the Fourth of July weekend the Pack continued the hot streak, defeating the West Coast Kings on July 5 and 6. The Kings scored twice in the top of the first on July 5, then the Packers chipped away at that early lead to win 7-2.
The next day Healdsburg struck early to take a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the third, then piled on to score four runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to end up with a 14-1 win.
The next three games are all against the Lincoln Potters, the team that came in second last year and even won the first game of the three-game championship series. This week Healdsburg travels to Lincoln’s McBean Park on Tuesday and Thursday, with a Wednesday home game in the middle of the series.
There’s still a lot of baseball left this month, with eight more games at Rec Park until the season finale on July 27, a non-league matchup against Petaluma’s AE Express. The championship series follows on July 30, 31 and Aug. 1. Expect the Packers to be on the field.
Follow the team at prunepackers.org.
