DANVILLE, Calif. — Shortstop Jared Mettam, the newest member of the Walnut Creek Crawdads, walked up to the plate in the third inning of Wednesday evening’s game against the San Francisco Seagulls with a chance to give his new team an early lead.

Second baseman Chris Esquivel, Mettam’s teammate at Saint Mary’s during the collegiate season, stood on second base with center fielder Trey Johnson at first. The scoreboard showed that no outs had been recorded. Seagulls right-handed starter David Delgadillo had backed himself into a dangerous situation with two runners on and a hitter of Mettam’s degree in the box. 

Delgadillo’s first pitch missed the zone, but his second offering was good enough for Mettam. The Gael swung at the offering and drove the pitch up past the converging middle infielders and into center field for a single. Esquivel rounded third and scored on his collegiate teammate’s knock, giving the Crawdads a lead they would hold for the rest of the game. 

“(Mettam) is dangerous,” Esquivel said. “With his disgusting glove and that bat of his. He’s a dog every day, day in and day out.” 

Mettam’s single broke a 1-1 tie and scored the second of 13 runs that the Walnut Creek Crawdads (4-1) would bring across in their 13-7 win against the San Francisco Seagulls (1-5). The Crawdads’ offensive outburst at Monte Vista High School secured the two-game sweep of the Seagulls and represented the fourth straight game that they’ve scored 11 or more runs. 

“I’m really impressed (with the offense),” head coach Brant Cummings said. “It’s one of the things I hoped for when we assembled these guys to play this year. Some physical left-handed hitters, some foot speed and guys that can hit. I’m impressed and I hope it continues.” 

The Crawdads had already put together back-to-back 11-run performances before Mettam joined the team, but his addition has elongated the lineup and taken the offense to another level. He brought in four RBIs in Tuesday’s game and went 3-5 with two RBI singles in Wednesday’s affair. 

Mettam’s impact isn’t surprising. He’s been a three-year starter at Saint Mary’s and is coming off a spring where he slashed .297/.402/.415. His impact has been immediately evident, and he has the bat, the glove and the speed to be one of the Crawdads’ most valuable players this season. 

“(Mettam) brings a lot of competitiveness and a lot of plus experience,” Esquivel said. “… He just knows how to play the game right, plays with a chip on his shoulder and loves to get after it.” 

Mettam’s hit to give the Crawdads the lead in the third inning set the tone for the rest of the evening, but the biggest hits, at least in terms of distance traveled, were hit in the sixth inning by the powerful lefty duo of first baseman John Youens and designated hitter Kam Taylor.  

Youens, a 6-foot-2, 204-pound rising redshirt sophomore at Baylor, drove a 1-0 pitch 334 feet down the right field line for a home run. The blast was his second in as many days. The Texas native has worked hard to improve each and every day this summer and he’s finding results. 

“We talked about some stuff, just some offensive stuff, and it looks as if he’s using some of the conversation,” Cummings said. “I’m not taking credit for anything, but he’s worked on some things on his own and I think it’s getting better every game.”

Taylor, a 6-foot-2, 217-pound rising redshirt junior who played for Eastern Kentucky last season, hit his first home run of the summer two batters after Youens. Taylor’s homer was smashed 370 feet over the wall in right-center field.

Both lefties’ good days went beyond just their home runs. Taylor went 2-5 and Youens went 3-4 with four RBIs. Youens’ first inning single, which he rocketed off of Delgadillo’s glove, scored Trey Johnson for the Crawdads’ first run of the game. 

“I was just trying to find a hole, put the ball in play,” Youens said. “We had a runner on third there, I was really blessed to be able to hit behind a bunch of dudes that are getting on base and getting in scoring position.” 

While the offense was rolling on all cylinders, it was an up-and-down day for Walnut Creek’s arms. Four of the five Crawdads pitchers gave up a run, but none of them let things get too far out of hand. 

Left-handed starter Colin Nowaczyk and right-handed reliever Kody Perry went 2.2 and 2.1 innings of one earned run baseball, respectively. Nowaczyk had effective stuff, but struggled with commanding it at times, striking out four and walking three. 

Right-handed reliever Kam Croghan has another lights-out outing. The Pepperdine reliever went a perfect 1.2 innings pitched, striking out two. He entered the game in relief of fellow righty Noah Zirkle. Zirkle has been dealing with a minor bicep issue and recorded three outs across two innings before leaving with the athletic trainer.

The only outing where things began to slightly unravel was left-hander Bradyn Barnes’ performance in the ninth inning. 

The southpaw had been dominant to start the summer. Between his performance in the Crawdads’ first exhibition game of the season and his outing against the Alameda Merchants on Saturday, he had thrown five innings of scoreless baseball, racking up nine strikeouts in the process. 

While he’ll want to remember those two outings, Wednesday was a game to forget. After getting a strikeout to end the eighth, Barnes came back out for the ninth and gave up three runs on three hits and a walk. 

Barnes was eventually able to settle into a groove, striking out the final two batters he faced to secure the Crawdads’ victory. In the end, it was still a relatively positive day for the Crawdads pitchers, and they’re building upon successes. Something that Cummings expects to continue.

“I think the performances will get better each time,” Cummings said. “… the more reps and more opportunities to get on the mound, guys are going to pitch better.” 

If Walnut Creek can continue to get better and better, that could be a scary sight for opposing teams. The offense is firing on all cylinders after a slow start and the vibes in the dugout are high. The Crawdads are playing like a unit that’s been together for an entire summer already, not a team where the players met most of their teammates just a week and a half ago. 

“The boys are rolling right now,” Youens said. “We’re just going to try and keep on going. We’re going to stay confident and keep doing our thing.”