Walnut Creek leans on Peyton Rowles’ brilliance, clutch hitting for Opening Day victory

It was quiet, almost too quiet, when Walnut Creek rising sophomore third baseman Peyton Rowles calmly stepped into the batter's box with two on, one out, and his team down 16-15. Rowles — who delivered three other times Wednesday night -– needed to dip once more into the pot of gold. 

The smooth-hitting right-hander stroked the first pitch into centerfield for a double, driving in two and re-establishing the Crawdad lead 17-16. 

Afterwards, Rowles received much-deserved adulation from teammates, coaches and on social media to earn him player of the game honors.

The Crawdads won game one of the year in style, 17-16, against Headfirst Baseball at Steve Friend Stadium at Gene Wellman Field Wednesday night. With Rowles at the forefront, the Crawdads' clutch hitting told the story. Whether with two outs, runners in scoring position or needing to move a guy over, they did their jobs. 

"It was a good first impression," Walnut Creek senior designated hitter Ryan Ellis said about his teammate Rowles. "You always want to start off strong and he did that today to help us win a game."

Rowles went 4-5 with a double, triple, two singles, two runs scored, a stolen base and five RBI. He opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first inning and followed it up with a hit by pitch, driving in another. 

In the sixth, Rowles hit a two-out triple to left field, driving in one more and extending the Crawdads' lead to 14-9.

Rowles, who delivered the game-winning RBI, said he avoided pressing at the plate to stay calm in those big moments. 

"The good thing is we found out how good Rowles is," Walnut Creek coach Brant Cummings said. "As advertised. (He is) a really good player, plays hard and is athletic … That big double in the eighth inning tells much of the story."

The first inning would set the tone for both two-out and runners-in-scoring-position hitting. All six runs came with runners in scoring position, while four came around to score after two outs. 

In total, Walnut Creek drove in over 10 runners when in scoring position. 

The two-out hitting overall numbers were equally impressive. The Crawdads scored 10 runs after two outs. 

Clutch hitting comes in multiple facets. For the Crawdads, it was also via soft contact. They relied on bloop singles as well as hard-hit line drives to get the job done.  

 "I just don't try to do too much," Walnut Creek junior second baseman Alijah Ramos said. "I just try to stick with my game plan, and put the ball in play, and just try to manufacture and score runs."

Walnut Creek looks to ride the momentum into its next matchup against Red Tails Baseball on Thursday, June 4, at 6:00 PST. 

"There's a lot of good guys, a lot of talent on this team," Ramos said. "I feel like 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."