DANVILLE, Calif. — After the Walnut Creek Crawdads’ 9-3 loss against the Alameda Merchants on CCL opening day, the team went on an eight-game streak where it scored seven or more runs. The streak began with back-to-back 11-run wins over the Merchants and served as the catalyst for Walnut Creek holding the best record in the CCL North.  

When the Crawdads walked onto what ended up being an extremely windy Monte Vista High School Baseball Field to take on the Merchants for a fourth time, the offense, while still producing, wasn’t quite at the same level. The high-scoring contests didn’t go anywhere, but 10-plus hit games had given way to back-to-back five-hit and seven-hit affairs. On Thursday afternoon, the numbers in the hit column took a full-on nosedive. 

Walnut Creek (7-3) was only able to tally two hits against Alameda (9-5), and was held off the scoreboard completely, falling 3-0. The Crawdads haven’t always had to rely on hits to score this year. They’ve taken advantage of free passes to help drive in runs, but even with seven freebies, the Crawdads needed more than two hits to get on the board. The baseball gods, for whatever reason, refused to give them any more. 

“Today was one of those days where you hit the ball hard and it’s just right at people,” Crawdads center fielder Ryan Brome said. “Hats off to Alameda, they came out and it seemed like they made every play. There were multiple diving plays, just (a) crazy defensive game out of them.”

The only two balls that Walnut Creek put in play that the Merchants defense couldn’t get to were a second-inning single to right field from first baseman John Youens that Alameda right fielder Hayden Jung-Goldberg nearly made a play on and a Brome single through the right side in the ninth inning. All 26 other balls that were put in play found gloves. 

The Crawdads made some weak outs, but the Alameda defense robbed them a handful of times. Multiple hits into the outfield were stolen on diving catches and even softly hit bloops that would usually find grass didn’t fall in. Merchants second baseman Vicente Feliciano made an incredible Willie Mays-style catch while falling in shallow right-center field to rob third baseman Ryley Leininger of a hit. 

“We torched some balls today, but they found gloves and that’s the way it goes,” Crawdads head coach Brant Cummings said. “I have no issue with the way they swung the bat this afternoon. We did everything right, we just didn’t get anything to show for it.”

For as good as the Merchants’ defense was, the wind was a crucial collaborator in Walnut Creek’s rough day at the yard. The lineup put nine fly balls into the air, including a handful that would normally fly over an outfielder’s head. With the wind, those balls were knocked down and caught.  

“When it’s blowing straight in, 20 mph from center, it makes it hard to hit, especially a team like us,” Brome said. “We’re going to put the ball out of the yard, and when it’s kind of a graveyard versus the boom-box that we like to be at, it just makes it a little bit more difficult.”

While the wind sucked life out of the Crawdads sails, the Merchants were able to work around the challenge and score three times across the first four innings. Left-handed starter Colin Nowaczyk caught a tough break in the first inning when an error came around to score. In the third inning, a hit-by-pitch came around to score on a double and in the fourth, a single he allowed scored after he was pulled from the game. 

Nowaczyk allowed nine baserunners in the three frames, but limited damage and set the tone for his relievers. Fellow lefties Max Cohen and Ryan DeLaney, alongside right-handers Noah Zirkle and Joe Coupland, combined for six scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Cohen went the longest of the four, going three solid innings where he allowed only two hits and struck out three. 

“I went one pitch at a time, making sure I could throw every pitch with conviction,” Cohen said. “Everything was working for me, my changeup, fastball (and) curveball. I was dialed in.” 

Even with the loss, it was a bounce-back day for the pitching staff and a day to build off of. The bullpen reigned in their command and didn’t allow any free passes, an important step in the right direction, given how walks and hit batters have come back to bite them. The little things matter too, and Cummings saw improvement. 

“We’ve talked often with (the pitchers) about throwing strike one to strike two,” Cummings said. “I thought we did a better job with that. Better job with mound presence and tempo today was much better.”  

It was unfortunate that the Crawdads’ offense couldn’t take advantage of a strong pitching day from their arms. While the offense has cooled down, it’s not like the quality of at-bats has diminished. Sometimes, you just go on a stretch where things don’t go your way. 

Walnut Creek still didn’t beat itself. The lineup took walks, didn’t strike out and hit the ball hard. On most days, that would be a recipe for success. Unfortunately for the Crawdads, baseball is a fickle game, and in practice, it doesn’t always work out as you would expect. On the flip side, if they keep the same recipe, they could very well cook up a win tomorrow. 

“If they have the same approach they did today, as hitters, they’ll be fine,” Cummings said. “It’s tough to go consecutive days where you sting seven or eight or nine balls and they don’t find a place where a guy can’t catch it. It just doesn’t happen very often.”