ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Walnut Creek Crawdads were on the hunt for their first win of the season Saturday afternoon and smelled blood in the water in the ninth inning against the Alameda Merchants. The Crawdads were slowly crawling back from what was at one point a three-run deficit when right fielder Sam Jenkins stepped into the batter’s box with runners on first and second, one out and the game tied. 

Jenkins had already shown how dangerous a hitter he can be when he smashed a two-run shot over Pat Bail Field’s right field wall in the second inning. This time, he stepped up to the plate with the potential to do even more damage. 

The Baylor redshirt freshman got a pitch to hit and put wood on it. The ball didn’t carry over the wall like it did in his first at-bat. Instead, it went right to the Merchants’ second baseman, Noah Smallwood. But as the old adage goes, “put the ball in play and good things happen.” 

Smallwood tried to turn two to end the inning, but he threw the ball into left field, allowing Jenkins’ Baylor and Crawdads teammate John Youens to score on the play and give Walnut Creek (1-1) a lead that it would hold and expand on, beating Alameda (3-1) 11-7. 

“I thought they had a chance of turning two,” Jenkins said. “I was trying to get my butt down the line and then I saw that they overthrew it and John (Youens) scored. That was a good feeling for sure.” 

Center fielder Trey Johnson and shortstop Dylan Hillman continued the Crawdads’ ninth-inning rally with a two-RBI single and a one-RBI single, both to left field, to give the Crawdads their 11-7 lead. Johnson’s single was his second time knocking in two runs against the Merchants. 

Johnson brought two Crawdads in to score in the eighth inning after a shot to Smallwood took a weird hop and wound up in the outfield. Johnson would later score the tying run in the eighth after left fielder Casey Leavitt-McGee recorded a productive groundout. 

The Crawdads’ center fielder had a massive day on a personal level, but was just happy to see his team win after a rough three-game stretch at Chabot College that included a loss to the Merchants and two exhibition losses. 

“I’m more excited we won,” Johnson said. “It was a rough three days, so anything to help the team finally win is good. 

I’m blaming (the three losses) on Chabot. It just wasn’t our field. It feels really good. I know we’re a good team, so it feels good to get that pressure off our backs.” 

After only scoring eight runs across the first three games of the season, the offense exploded in Saturday’s contest. Many of the Crawdads’ bats haven’t faced live, in-game pitching in some time, meaning that there was an understandable adjustment period to start the summer. Still, the sentiment around the Crawdads’ dugout was that they knew it was only a matter of time before an offensive outburst happened. 

“We’re just trying to settle in,” Jenkins said. “Today we scored 11, and the past two games, we only scored two or three. I think we’re going to start getting on a roll.” 

Another part of the team that settled down after a shaky performance in the Crawdads’ Friday evening loss to the Merchants was the bullpen. Friday’s game saw issues compounding and affecting pitcher after pitcher who came in out of the bullpen. On Saturday, left-handed relievers Colin Nowaczyk and Bradyn Barnes were able to become stoppers and patch a hole that started to form after the outing of fellow southpaw reliever Ryan DeLaney. 

DeLaney didn’t have his command working for him — walking five and hitting one — leading to a laborious outing, where he ended up being credited with five earned runs in 1.1 innings pitched. When he exited, Nowaczyk entered a two-on, no-out jam. 

The Nebraska arm allowed one run to score on a wild pitch, but he got the Crawdads out of the fourth inning and kept damage limited the rest of his outing. When head coach Brant Cummings took the ball out of the lefty’s hand before the seventh inning, he had logged three innings of work, striking out six, allowing just three base runners and one earned run. 

“The bullpen is huge,” Cummings said. “It’s one of the things that helped us win so many games last year. Having guys at the end of the game that can get critical outs and get out of tough situations and give us a chance to win. That’s what Nowaczyk and Barnes did today.”

Even with how dominant Nowaczyk was, Barnes was able to build upon it. The lefty allowed a single to right field to start his day, but he picked the runner off and retired the next five batters before an error in the ninth allowed a base runner. Working with minimal distractions allowed Barnes to find his groove. 

“It means a lot,” Barnes said about how early outs help his confidence. “Getting the first two kids out, it can help with the momentum, too. It just makes you feel better. Not having traffic on base is definitely huge.” 

Barnes was able to work around the error in the ninth to secure the win for his personal line and for the Crawdads. His three-inning, five-strikeout performance shifted momentum back to the Crawdads’ side and created the runway the Crawdads’ offense needed to get back in the game, take the lead and eventually win. 

The Crawdads entered the summer with high expectations after winning the CCL North last season. If the Crawdads want to get back to the championship, they’ll need to take things step by step, and it all starts with the first one. The Crawdads will attempt to take the next step tomorrow in the final game of this three-game set against the Merchants.

“Everything’s got to (have) a first, get the first one out of the way,” Barnes said. “I think we showed today that we’re more than capable of beating (the Merchants). Having that win going into tomorrow is going to be great. Going to be fun.”

By Ethan Ignatovsky