DANVILLE, Calif. — One of Walnut Creek Crawdads’ head coach Brant Cummings’ keys to Sunday afternoon’s series finale against the Sonoma Stompers was a scoreless top of the first inning. Obviously, a scoreless first frame keeps the game tied 0-0 and gives the offense a chance to strike first, but it also boosts the team’s morale. It keeps them off the back foot and momentum away from the other side.

“The main thing is to come out and have good things happen early so people gain confidence as a group,” Cummings said after Saturday’s win.

Unfortunately for the Crawdads, they weren’t able to execute that part of the game plan. Right-handed starting pitcher Dylan McShane allowed an infield single, a walk and hit a batter to load the bases with no outs in the first inning, and it didn’t get any easier after that. A hit, two separate errors, a walk and a sacrifice fly scored four runs and ended McShane’s day after recording just one out.

Right-handed reliever Noah Zirkle came in and limited the damage, but too much had already been done. Each side would only score a few more runs the rest of the way and Walnut Creek (18-14) walked out of Monte Vista High School, falling to Sonoma (22-14) 7-3 in the two teams’ final meeting of the regular season.

“I think the explanation (for McShane’s outing) lies in what he’s gone through for the last few years,” Cummings said in reference to his injury history. “He’s six-foot-9 and he has a difficult time repeating his mechanics. The other thing, I think, sometimes he battles some confidence (issues) as well.”

McShane’s defense didn’t do him any favors either. Subpar defense has been a theme for the Crawdads this series and Sunday was the second day in a row that those issues were mostly isolated to plays involving the first baseman.

The Crawdads have lost All-Star first baseman John Youens for the rest of the season due to personal reasons, and tried Joey Donnelly — the team’s usual right fielder — at the position the previous two games. Sunday, Brady Wilson — who spent time at first base for Sacramento City College during the collegiate season — made his summer debut at the position, and he showed some rust.

The first error of the first inning occurred when Wilson fielded a ball that bounced off the first base bag and tossed a ball overhand to McShane, covering the bag, who couldn’t secure the ball for a catch. The ball rolled away from the right-hander and a runner scored as a result. The second error of the first inning occurred when Wilson couldn’t stop a seemingly routine grounder from rolling past him and into right field, allowing another run to score.

Wilson would commit another error in the second inning and had trouble with a pop fly near the Crawdads’ first base dugout later in the game. The University of the Pacific commit improved as the game went on, and made a great leaping grab to save shortstop Nico DeFazio from a throwing error in the seventh inning, but his earlier miscues had already made their impact.

“I think (Wilson) just lost confidence, and it was an overall tough day for him,” Cummings said. “Those plays, they make the inning longer. At that point, it was bases-loaded, we could’ve recorded an out there.”

When Zirkle came into the game in relief of McShane, he knew he had to hold the line. Two Stompers runners scored with him on the mound — one was credited to McShane, the other to him — but he got the Crawdads out of the first frame, and proceeded to toss 2.1 scoreless innings, all while not feeling 100%.

“I was a little nervous before the game, because physically, (I) wasn’t feeling my best,” Zirkle said. “But as soon as I was on the mound, in the situation I came in, I was like ‘no matter how I’m feeling, I need to come in (and) do the job.’ If I don’t, we’re going to lose, so I just kind of put that physical feeling aside.”

Zirkle’s performance kick-started a day that the bullpen can hang its hat on, despite the loss. The group tossed 8.2 innings of great baseball, allowing just eight base runners, striking out seven and giving up just two runs. The Crawdads’ bullpen has been an inconsistent question mark this summer, but gave it their all during the three-game set, recording a 1.03 ERA.

“The bullpen was great today,” Zirkle said. “Just sadly, too little, too late.”

Too little, too late can also describe the Crawdads’ offensive efforts. Catcher Zach Justice had a big first-inning hit to left field for the second day in a row, doubling home Donnelly, but that was the last time the offense would produce a run until the back half of the game.

Left fielder Kam Taylor had two nearly identical hits as the game wound down, singling through the right side of the field to score Donnelly in the sixth inning, and singling through the right side again in the ninth, scoring center fielder Brandon Clizbe. Taylor fought hard for both his hits, despite the game feeling out of reach.

“It’s very hard, but you always have to have a good mindset,” Taylor said. “Stay consistent with your game, don’t overthink it. Just because you’re losing doesn’t mean the game’s over. You still have nine innings left, so you’re good.”

In the end, Taylor’s efforts weren’t enough to get the Crawdads fully back into the game. The Crawdads lost the game and the three-game set, but overall won the season series against the Stompers 5-4. With the season winding down and the Crawdads fighting for a playoff spot, they’ll need to continue to win series. In order to do that, they’ll need to execute their game plans and continue to have short memories when things go awry.

“Your goal is to win every day,” Zirkle said. “You go away from the yard feeling like, ‘Dang, we could have done something differently.’ But in the big picture of things, your goal is every single team we play, beat them more times than we lose, and that’s what we did. So that’s awesome, but we’re in a position where we only have about what, six, seven games left? … So today, scrap it. We got Tuesday, (Wednesday), Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday to take care of business. We’ve got to win more games than we lose if we want to get this thing into the playoffs.”

By Ethan Ignatovsky