Walnut Creek back to winning ways after taking down San Fransisco

Walking into Monte Vista High School on a three-game losing streak on Tuesday afternoon, Walnut Creek was upset, but prepared and well-rested. 

After dropping a weekend series to San Luis Obispo, and a matchup with Alameda before, the Crawdads came into the matchup cold. However, a much-needed off day followed the losing streak. 

Having secured a 7-1 win over San Francisco, Crawdads coach Brant Cummings thinks the day off was helpful for his team.

"It was helpful," Cummings said. "Gave some guys a chance to relax their bodies and go through some time away from it. Most of them are not accustomed to playing five six days in a row. They haven't done it before, except for the veteran guys that have played summer ball in the past, so it's really useful."

As the game opened, both offenses took time to get settled in, tied at one after three innings.

Walnut Creek took the lead with a pair of RBI singles from redshirt freshman third baseman TJ Woodson and sophomore second baseman Peyton Rowles.

The game stayed close until the seventh inning, where the Crawdads put up four runs, placing the game out of reach from the Seagulls.

A true team effort, the offense was well spread out for Walnut Creek, with the team's ten hits coming from six different players.

Picking up another player of the game award was Rowles, who continued his stellar season. In the win, Rowles went 3-for-4 with an RBI and three stolen bases. Driving in two runs in the seventh was sophomore catcher Brandon Clizbe, getting his first two-RBI game of 2026.

Another big name on the box score for the Crawdads was sophomore designated hitter Sutter Moss. Working through injury struggles, Moss had his first multi-hit game of his Walnut Creek career, picking up a single and a double. 

The offense begins to click after a rough weekend, Moss is happy with what the win means.

"It's just a good momentum boost," Moss said. "Start the week off strong, especially going 0-3 those last three days. They weren't like blowouts too, they were close games. It showed today that we can bounce back through adversity and go compete and try to win the week." 

On the other side of the ball, Walnut Creek found ways to succeed on the mound. Its staff allowed one run after surrendering five or more runs in its past four games. 

The Crawdads limited free passes, something that they have struggled with. On Tuesday, they allowed just three walks. They also allowed just six hits. 

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Kalani Jauregui started on the bump. He allowed three hits, two walks and an unearned run. The sophomore showcased top-end movement, especially with his fastball. Jauregui lowered his ERA to 1.59 in CCL play. 

Moss mentioned how impactful it is for the pitchers to be able to bounce-back and limit opponents to one run. 

"It's huge," Moss said. "It helps everyone, helps the defense, helps the offense, helps the coaches just makes everyone go out there, speed the tempo up, make everyone lock in more, make the batters lock in more. Just provides energy for the team. So it's great." 

Arguably the most impressive arm of the night was sophomore right-hander Weston Thornbury. Thornbury threw 40 pitches, allowing one baserunner in four innings of work. He has not allowed an earned run in 8.2 innings in CCL play. 

"I wasn't too surprised," Thornbury said about how long he went. "I'm kind of used to going deep in the games, but it just felt good to get into a groove." 

For Walnut Creek, Thornbury had three 1-2-3 innings. 

"I do hate base runners," Thornbury said. "I like to keep people off my base path."

For the Crawdads, seniors left-handed pitcher Ryan Delaney and right-hander Kody Perry closed out the game on the bump. 

Walnut Creek fans finally got to see the long-awaited return of Kody Perry on the mound. He did not disappoint. He struck out two, did not allow a baserunner and threw 63.6% of pitches for strikes in an inning of relief.  

The Crawdads found the strike zone often. All four pitchers combined for 80-of-131 pitches for strikes, a 61.1% clip. 

For Cummings, it's what the doctor ordered. Putting balls in play and seeing constant growth is something that he's mentioned to his team. 

"Kalani was good at the front end and then Thorn was dynamic in the middle," Cummings said about how his pitchers performed. "Delaney played a huge part, Kody Perry came in, so there were a lot of moving parts today that helped us be successful in the sport. We were able to do a lot of things, and I'm happy about that." 

The Crawdads head onto the road for the first time since June 5. They head to Baylands Park in Palo Alto for a matchup against Menlo Park on Wednesday, June 17 at 6:00 PDT.