Timely hitting, good pitching performances guide Walnut Creek to fifth straight win

Walnut Creek trailed by one heading to the fifth. The offense was dormant, unable to pull a "rabbit" out of the hat. Given the dominating nature of Friday's win and standings, it was viewed as a needed win. 

For the Crawdads, it's a good thing baseball games don't end after four innings. In the fifth, the offense erupted, starting with an unlikely hero: the other team. 

Alameda had back-to-back errors setting up junior outfielder Daniel Polasek for a sacrifice fly. Immediately after, senior outfielder Ryan Ellis smacked the first pitch he saw over the wall, extending the lead by two. 

Junior infielder Kevin Parker Jr. and catcher Andrew Longaker — who was making his Crawdads debut — capped off the fifth inning with RBIs of their own. Longaker's RBI came via his first Crawdads hit. 

The fifth-inning offensive outburst proved too much for the Merchants to handle. The Crawdads never surrendered the lead, while the Merchants were suffocating in their home park, falling 12-6 on Saturday night.

"It is a very comforting thing to be pitching when you don't have to worry about your offense," sophomore left-handed pitcher Paul Wheeler said. "Every game we have been dominant on offense and that gives us a lot of leeway as a pitching staff. We have been doing a good job to hold up our ends, so that they can also go swing free and easy enough not to worry about coming back on a huge deficit." 

Sophomore right-hander Devin James opened the game on the bump. The righty longed for a bounce-back game, which he was promptly granted. Despite allowing five runs in his Walnut Creek debut, James managed traffic and the zone better. 

James fired off three innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits, one walk and striking out three. His ability to find the strike zone helped keep the pitch count down. So much so that he threw around 12 pitches an inning. 

James, who hit 90-91 MPH on his fastball, spoke about what the bounce-back start meant for him. 

"I was getting more first pitch strikes than I was last time," James said. "I was also commanding my fastball a lot better. I wasn't leaving stuff over the heart of the plate like I did last Saturday. I had a really good catcher behind the dish to call pitches for me and I think we were on the same page all three innings." 

James had more help than meets the eye: Longaker.  The battery of those two has been present for years, dating all the way back to high school. Despite not pitching to each other recently, they relished the opportunity to play together again, using their experience with each other. 

"I'll keep my answer short and sweet," Longaker said. "I miss catching him because this guy's got electric stuff." 

Wheeler, alongside sophomore right-handers Weston Thornbury and Myles Brand — who closed the game — extended their hot starts to the season yet again. 

Wheeler went three-up-three-down, surrendering no baserunners at any point and striking out one. The University of San Francisco lefty has not allowed a run all season. 

Relying on movement and wanting to throw more strikes, Wheeler spoke about what is going right for him right now. 

"Landing my sinker low in the zone early in counts has been giving me a lot of success," Wheeler said. "I am keeping the hitters on their toes, and then working my cutter off of that to get a different look has given me a lot of success." 

Thornbury tacked on an inning of scoreless relief, albeit he's done that all season. Thornbury kept his ERA at 0.00 as his WHIP sits at a calm 0.72 across 9.2 innings pitched. 

Brand has followed a similar trajectory. Despite allowing a couple of runs, Brand has struck out nine. He's generated a WHIP under 1.00 at 0.97 and has an ERA at 1.93. 

Polasek and Parker Jr. were X-factors on the other side of the diamond. Polasek took home Player of the Game honors for the first time this season. 

It was well-deserved. The patient lefty went 3-for-5, scoring once, driving in three and hitting a triple. 

Giving him a run for his money, Parker Jr. went 2-for-3 with two walks, three runs batted in, two runs scored and four stolen bases. 

The cohesiveness of the hitters and how quickly they've gelled is something newcomer Longaker picked up on instantly. James credited the hitters' ridiculous, consistent production. 

"I think our hitters did a great job today," James said. "They had a really good approach to get their starting guy out of the game, and put up a sixth spot in the fifth inning. I think our guys had a really good approach that inning, especially to put some runs on the board and give our pitchers a little more leeway."

The Crawdads get set to face the Philippines Baseball Group at 4:00 p.m. Sunday, June 21, at Monte Vista High School to celebrate Father's Day.