HAYWARD, Calif. — Despite playing at Chabot College as the home team over a three-game stretch to start the Summer, the Gladiators’ field never felt like home for the Walnut Creek Crawdads. 

After two tough losses in non-CCL play, the Crawdads found themselves on the back foot early once again, this time against a league foe, the Alameda Merchants. 

Crawdads right-handed starting pitcher Brady Wilson ran into trouble in the second inning after striking out two batters in a dominant first frame. The University of the Pacific commit allowed two singles and started to lose his command. Balls in the dirt that couldn’t be gobbled up and a sacrifice fly brought two Merchants runners in and started a downward spiral for the Crawdads.

Command issues that led to free passes and wild pitches plagued the staff all day. Those issues, alongside an offense that has yet to fully wake up, led to Walnut Creek (0-1) dropping the first of three games against Alameda (3-0), 9-3, Friday evening. Head coach Brant Cummings knows that there’s no one formula to winning a baseball game, but he also knows what the Crawdads can’t afford to do. 

“We can’t walk and hit people, that’s number one,” Cummings said. “Number two, we have to be crisp behind the plate, receiving and blocking. We’ve got to do that. We’ve got to be able to control the running game. That’s important. Swinging the bats, you’ve got to hit fastballs early in the count and you can’t strike out. It’s easier said than done, but it is what it is.” 

With the offense still finding itself, the pitching staff had to make the Merchants work for their runs, but the Crawdads gave out free pass, after free pass. Between walks and hit-by-pitches, Walnut Creek’s arms allowed eight Merchants to reach base without having to use their bats. 

The free passes came in bunches, with control issues compounding after runners reached base. The Merchants took advantage of receiving two free passes in the fifth, the seventh and the eighth innings, scoring two runs, one run and one run, respectively, across those frames, in large part due to the Crawdads’ command issues. 

“When we got runners on, the pitchers kind of just felt sped up,” catcher Joe Coupland said. “I feel like that’s kind of my job to help them slow down and sort of get in a groove.” 

While Coupland might not have been able to get all of his pitchers in a groove on the bump, he was one of just a few Crawdads who were in a good groove at the plate. 

After grounding out to second base in his previous two at-bats, Coupland made an adjustment and it paid off in a big way in the sixth inning. The rising sophomore put wood to a fastball, smashing it over the wall in left field for his first home run of the young season.

“Throughout the whole count I was getting fastballs because my past at-bats I was late on the fastball,” Coupland said. “I had to make an adjustment and that’s what I did.”

Coupland’s home run put the Crawdads on the board and started their most successful offensive inning of the day. Right fielder Matt Gonsalves worked a two-out walk to bring up third baseman Ryley Leininger. 

Leininger didn’t appear in a game at Oklahoma during his freshman year of college, but he brought SEC prowess to his sixth-inning plate appearance, ripping a double to right field. The throw from Alameda’s right fielder Ben Reiland went to third base, where third baseman Chase Ditmar picked up the throw and rocketed a ball to second to try and nab Leininger. Ditmar’s throw was offline and went into right field, allowing Gonsalves to score. 

Leininger was the only Crawdad to have a multi-hit game, recording two singles in addition to his double that led to the second and final run of the sixth inning. The Crawdads were able to bring another run across to score in the seventh, but that was the extent of their offensive production.

It’s been a tough three-game stretch for the Crawdads, but the team is still finding its footing and gelling together as players from different schools across the country come together to form a unit. Friday’s game is also the only contest so far to impact the Crawdads’ CCL record. The best time to struggle is now, but it can’t last for long. 

Walnut Creek will play two more games against Alameda before a two-game set against the San Francisco Seagulls, meaning the Crawdads will have a chance to learn from this game and bounce back. It’s been a disappointing start, but Cummings expects his team to turn it around. 

“We’re going to start hitting a little bit,” Cummings said. “Once we do that, we’ll be fine.”

By Ethan Ignatovsky