Walnut Creek Crawdads win game one of 2026 in 33-run thriller

33 runs, three and a half hours and 330 pitches later, the Walnut Creek Crawdads are 1-0 in 2026.

After a red-hot start and a rocky middle to a game against Headfirst Baseball, the Crawdads took home the first game of the season 17-16.

Through the ups and downs of the game, manager Brant Cummings thinks the game brought a lot of positives to the team.

"The kids offensively showed some resilience in being able to give up a large lead, and then recapture it again," Cummings said. "We have a little something here. It's just first night out, get a little consistency, work on some stuff on defense, but I think we'll be competitive."

After Michael Olsen struck out three batters in the top of the first, the Crawdads wasted no time putting runs on the board.

Junior right fielder Shane Aldridge tripling in the first Crawdad at bat of the game, sophomore third baseman Peyton Rowles picked up his first of five RBIs on the night as the second batter of the game.

After seniors designated hitter Ryan Ellis and shortstop Kevin Parker Jr. then reaching base, freshman first baseman Bryden Bull singled to bring Ellis in. Alijah Ramos and Trevor Wilson also recording RBI singles, the Crawdads finished the first inning with six runs on six hits.

Scoring six in the first, Ellis was proud of the team's performance at the plate in game one.

"I think just taking good at bats, swinging up the right pitches, that's the main goal when you're up there at the plate," Ellis said. "We had some things go our way, so we were fortunate in that sense."

The second and third were quiet compared to the first, but the bats got up again in the fourth.

After Head First Baseball scored one run in the top of the third and fourth, Walnut Creek had the perfect answer in the bottom of the fourth.

After Rowles, Ellis and sophomore catcher Brandon Clizbe got on base to lead off the inning, sophomore left fielder Dylan Perez picked up the first RBI of the inning on an error that kept the bases loaded.

In the seventh, Bull, Rowles and Aldridge also reached on errors or fielder's choices, with the Headfirst Baseball fielding being a major benefit to the Crawdads during the inning. However, junior second baseman Alijah Ramos did record a two-RBI single in the fourth to help extend the Crawdad lead to 13-2. 

Being a part of an early offensive onslaught, Ramos was proud of his production.
"There's a lot of good guys," Ramos said. "A lot of talent on this team. If we just come together and we get to know each other, we're gonna make a run for possibly a championship and win it all."

From there, the Crawdads struggled through the middle innings.

A two-run fifth, five-run sixth, four-run seventh and two-run eighth for Headfirst Baseball saw the Walnut Creek lead flip to its opponents. However, the Crawdads had the resiliency necessary to get the job done. 

After junior first baseman Barrett Ronson, redshirt freshman second baseman TJ Woodson and junior center fielder Trevor Wilson got on base as the first three batters of the inning, Aldridge hit a grounder to second that brought a runner in and cut the deficit to one. 

Then, Rowles stepped up to the plate and delivered the most important play of the game for the Crawdads, hitting a two-RBI double to give Walnut Creek the 17-16 lead, the score that would win the game for the team.

Despite a shaky set of middle innings, it was not all negative on the mound for the Crawdads.

Sophomore left-hander Michael Olsen picked up strikeouts for the first five outs of the night, setting a career-high. Finishing his day with 2 innings pitched and giving up just one hit, Olsen handed the ball off to Myles Brand, whose two hits, one earned run and two strikeouts also contributed to a strong opening to the game for the Crawdads.

The offense was the primary contributor to the Walnut Creek success on Wednesday. While Aldridge, Bull, Ramos and Wilson recorded RBIs, the player of the game was undoubtedly Rowles. Recording five RBIs and only getting out once, Rowles was a home run away from recording a cycle. After recording a Crawdad debut to be proud of, his manager was more than happy with what his day meant for the team.

"The good stuff is we found out how good Peyton Rowles is," Cummings said. "As advertised, really good player, plays hard, athletic. I was glad about that."