DANVILLE, Calif. — Walnut Creek Crawdads right-handed reliever Nathen Nino had to be careful late in the ninth inning of Thursday evening’s game against the South Bay Storm. Nino had already recorded two outs, but the single he had just given up loaded the bases, creating a stressful moment. 

Due to an error committed by Crawdads third baseman Ryley Leininger earlier in the inning, South Bay had managed to put themselves within four runs of Walnut Creek. This meant that when second baseman Diego Hernandez jogged up to the plate, he represented the tying run. 

The right-hander met his challenger with a big curveball, fooling Hernandez and jumping ahead 0-1, but the second baseman wouldn’t go down quietly. The two battled into a full count before Hernandez got a pitch he could do something with. The nine-hole hitter made hard, loud contact with the 3-2 pitch, hitting a line drive rocket up the middle and right into Nino’s outstretched glove to end the threat.

Nino’s snag recorded the final out of the game and secured a 5-1 win for the Walnut Creek Crawdads against the South Bay Storm in a non-CCL game. The victory improved the Crawdads’ winning streak to five games — and three straight wins at their home field of Monte Vista High School — even if it doesn’t officially reflect it in the CCL standings. On a personal level for Nino, his three-inning save represented a bounce-back performance. 

“We saw Nathen Nino go from two not-so-great outings to a good one today, regardless of what his line was at the end,” Crawdads head coach Brant Cummings said. “In the ninth inning, he punched out a guy, and then he induced three or four ground balls. … I feel happy for him, because I know at times it hasn’t been so great. So that’s awesome.” 

Across the right-hander’s two previous appearances out of the bullpen this season, he’d given up two runs in three innings, walked three batters and hit three batters. While he did walk one and hit one on Thursday, he didn’t allow either free pass to come back and bite him. 

The only time Nino got in trouble was in the ninth inning when he gave up three base hits. Still, the only run that scored in that frame came off an error. Nino was able to keep his outing from unraveling by taking things slowly and not trying too hard. 

“First batter out of the gate (in the seventh inning) I got ahead 0-2,” Nino said. “Then I was just trying to be too nasty with my offspeed and I fell behind, leadoff walk. After that I was able to adjust, one pitch at a time, and pound the zone, (and) trust the guys behind me.” 

It helped that the offense had built a nice cushion for Nino, something that seemed like a difficult task early in the game. Through the first three innings, South Bay’s right-handed starting pitcher Terry Baker shut down the Crawdads’ red-hot offense that had scored 11 or more runs in the team’s previous four games. 

The righty — who featured a funky high sidearm delivery — allowed five baserunners through those three innings, but was extremely effective in limiting damage. He picked off shortstop Dylan Hillman in the first inning and was able to induce weak contact when the situation required it. 

“The arm angle and his ability to throw strikes to both sides of the plate (made Baker effective),” Cummings said. “… He could play on our team because he’s going to get up there and throw strikes, field his position, have some intensity about him and some care and he holds runners. At this level, he does the job well.” 

The Crawdads were finally able to break through against Baker in the fourth inning, taking advantage of mistakes to jump ahead. Leininger and first baseman John Youens stood in scoring position after an error by Hernandez and a hit-by-pitch put them on base, and a fielder’s choice moved them over. Right fielder Joey Donnelly was then able to bring them in to score. 

Donnelly went to battle against Baker after popping out in his first at-bat. The rising graduate student worked a full count, getting a pitch he liked and lining it into right field for a single that scored both runners. Donnelly, similarly to Nino on the mound, didn’t try to do too much. The experienced hitter stayed within himself and was able to produce exactly what his team needed. 

“(I was) trying to put something in play into the outfield,” Donnelly said. “It was second and third, so just trying to throw something out there, let the guys score.

“You’ve just got to chip away, get the next guy up (and) let everybody do their job.” 

Hillman, despite being picked off in the first, did his job as well as anybody else. After missing the previous two games, the UC Irvine commit returned to the lineup and appeared to have not missed a beat. The shortstop went 3-5 with an RBI double that he roped down the left field line in the sixth inning. 

“He’s simply a good player, the complete package,” Cummings said. “(He) can hit, run, play defense and he gives you the intangibles along with that, the things that you don’t see necessarily in the line score. Really good player.” 

The Crawdads are stacked with talent at the shortstop position with Jared Mettam also playing there. Both provide everything you could want from a starting shortstop and will most likely split time at the position as the summer progresses. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Cummings find ways for both of them to be in the lineup on any given day to maximize offensive production.

While Thursday didn’t see the same level of offensive explosion that the Crawdads’ previous four games provided, the five runs were more than enough to defeat the storm. Left-handed opener Sid Polston, alongside righties Joe Coupland, Edward Said and Nino, held the Storm at bay in front of a defense that, despite making a few errors, played fairly well. 

As the wins continue to rack up, the Crawdads’ confidence only grows stronger. Even in a win that wasn’t as dominant as the previous four, there isn’t any indication of Walnut Creek truly slowing down. 

“Baseball is going to be baseball,” Donnelly said.  “Sometimes the ball isn’t going to drop. There were lineouts, there were hard hits. I think (we’ll) keep putting together good at-bats and we’ll keep playing well.”

By Ethan Ignatovsky