DANVILLE — Walnut Creek Crawdads fans were enjoying a beautiful Friday summer evening at Monte Vista High School that appeared to be getting better and better. The Crawdads had fought to score two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie their opponent, the Sonoma Stompers, and the soon-to-be setting sun and a breeze provided immaculate weather. On the field, though, seemingly out of nowhere, the perfect day had faded away and was replaced by a hellscape. 

Walnut Creek (17-13) committed four errors, in four different ways, in the ninth inning, contributing to five unearned runs crossing the plate and giving Sonoma (21-13) a 10-5 lead. Walnut Creek managed to score a run in the ninth inning, but the self-inflicted damage was too much to overcome. The team lost 10-6 and has now lost seven of its last 10 games. 

“No one could stop the bleeding,” Crawdads second baseman Chris Esquivel said. “We just let each error pile up on each other. You just have to forget that ever happened and just move on to the next day because that should never happen. We all know that.” 

The ninth inning started off on the right foot. Right-handed pitcher Micah Billings entered his first full inning of work after recording the final out of the eighth inning and quickly struck out Stompers pitcher Heeryun Han. He then got shortstop Max Handron to hit a playable flyball out to right field. Billings appeared to have secured two quick outs, but disaster struck. Right fielder Kam Taylor couldn’t secure the catch, the ball hitting off his glove and falling to the outfield grass. The first error of the inning had been committed. 

Handron made it over to second base after a pitch got away from Crawdads catcher Brandon Clizbe. Despite the two mistakes that put a runner on second base, Billings remained steady and induced a groundball to third base, where Cam Calvillo made an amazing pick on a tough hop, but his throw across the diamond wasn’t good enough for first baseman Joey Donnelly to secure the out. The second error of the inning had been committed. 

Billings was doing everything he had to do, but he wasn’t getting the results. It’s a situation that can be mentally challenging for a pitcher, but he persevered and struck out first baseman Paul Lizzul for the second out of the inning. 

“I always have faith in my team if they make errors or not,” Billings said. “I always trust them and I just keep on pitching. It’s always next better and it’s reset every time. 

“I just think I’m better than the batter every time, and I’m going to blow it past them. Or if not, I just think my team’s going to get the ball.”

Unfortunately for Billings, the bad luck didn’t stop. A 60 MPH bloop single into center field scored a run, a walk loaded the bases and the defense continued to struggle.   

Stompers right fielder Trent Keys hit a grounder to the right side of the infield, Esquivel had to hustle into the 3-4 hole, but the usually sure-handed second baseman got to the ball. The only issue was that he allowed it to slip right underneath his glove, scoring two runs. The third error of the inning had been committed. 

The Stompers had regained complete control, and the string of errors had left the Crawdads feeling mentally drained. 

“We’re college athletes and we all expect ourselves to be perfect,” Esquivel said. “You understand that the person next to you is just saying words that they shouldn’t be saying to themselves. You just have to be yourself in that moment and just try to stop the bleeding as much as possible.”

On the very next play, Stompers second baseman Ben Sebastiani hit a grounder to Crawdads shortstop Nico DeFazio, who struggled to get the ball into his right hand, resulting in Sebastiani reaching first base before the throw, allowing the runner on third base to score. The fourth and final error of the inning has been committed. 

Billings, who should’ve been out of the frame twice by that point, allowed a single into center field, which brought in the Stompers’ fifth run of the inning before he was able to strike out Han for the second time, ending the nightmare. 

It was an inning reminiscent of Little League, not one that should’ve happened on a field full of Division I talent. Walnut Creek head coach Brant Cummings categorized the inning as “embarrassing.” Baseball is a challenging sport, but none of the errors were on abnormally difficult plays. 

“Just bad stuff,” Cummings said. “We have to make those plays, we do, in order to win. … Unfortunately, unless the opposition breaks down, we have to play crisp defense.” 

Part of what made the loss so frustrating was that the Crawdads, after struggling for most of the game, nearly got the Stompers to completely collapse.

Sonoma’s right-handed starting pitcher Shawn McBroom held the Crawdads scoreless for the first four innings while his offense gave him four runs of support. The Crawdads were able to nibble into the Stompers’ lead  — even with the Stompers scoring their fifth run, which scored on, you guessed it, an error — over the next three innings before positioning themselves to tie the game in the eighth inning. 

With Crawdads center fielder Trey Johnson on third base, representing the tying run after doubling off the center field wall and tagging up on a sacrifice fly which scored left fielder Ryley Leininger, Cummings went to his bench. He called upon Esquivel to pinch-hit for starting second baseman Ryan Ellis, one of the hardest things to do in baseball. 

Esquivel, who got used to a pinch-hitting role during his 2024 season at Saint Mary’s, didn’t let the moment get too big. He saw a slider down the middle and took it right back where it came from, singling into center field to tie the game. 

“You have to lock back in a little bit,” Esquivel said. “It’s very challenging. I was at the on-deck circle, I was like ‘OK, alright, we got to get my breath work in and just kind of lock back in,’ because you’re not super honed in on the game.”

Esquivel had driven the Stompers as close to their breaking point as they had been all game. He drove in the tying run and stood on first base as the winning run. Momentum had swung the Crawdads’ way, but it didn’t last long. Before the first error of the top of the ninth inning, Esquivel made a mental error on the base paths, allowing himself to get picked off, ending the frame abruptly. 

“That could’ve been a swing there, because who knows what happens if (Esquivel) doesn’t get picked off,” Cummings said. “I’m not a crystal ball guy, but you never know, the next guy maybe keeps this thing moving and we end up first and third.”

Unfortunately for the Crawdads, Esquivel getting picked off was the beginning of the end in a game that has been the ugliest of this rough stretch for the team. Things are only going to get tougher for the Crawdads as they’re losing All-Star first baseman John Youens and Jared Mettam, who has started at shortstop nearly every day since he joined the team, for the rest of the season. Despite current trends and key pieces departing, Cummings has the same faith in his group that he had pre-season. 

“We have the right people, (but) they have to go out there and do it,” Cummings said. “We have to find a way to encourage them, motivate them, put them in spots to succeed. I have confidence, we have the right people, we just have to find a way to do it.” 

By Ethan Ignatovsky