Walnut Creek continues hot streak with 4-1 win over San Francisco

In the history of the Walnut Creek Crawdads franchise, just seven players have hit 10 or more doubles in a single season. Adding his name to that list on Friday was redshirt freshman infielder TJ Woodson. 

The difference between Woodson and the rest of the list? He did it before July hit. While Woodson's identity in baseball hasn't typically been power, this season has given him an opportunity to grow.

"I'm not usually a big power guy," Woodson said. "But the team around me has put me in good spots here, and I've been able to capitalize."

Driving in one of the Crawdad's four runs in the team's 4-1 win over San Francisco, Woodson continued his hot streak. 

During the team's nine-game win streak, a franchise record, Woodson has recorded a hit in all seven games he's played in, including seven RBIs.

While Woodson shined at the plate, he wasn't the only Crawdad to succeed on offense against the Seagulls.

After a pair of errors in the second inning, Walnut Creek took a 1-0 lead. 

Woodson then led off the third with a double, his first of the day, before stealing third and being driven in by senior infielder Kevin Parker Jr. 

After junior infielder Barrett Ronson doubled in the fourth inning and advanced to third on a passed ball, Woodson found himself with an RBI opportunity. Unsurprisingly, Woodson doubled again, driving in Ronson and giving the Crawdads a 3-0 lead.

After the game, Woodson put the success of the Crawdads in simple terms.

"This is a great group of guys, we're very close together," Woodson said. "We're just playing clean baseball, we're doing what we need to do. Throwing strikes, making plays defensively, and situational hitting. That's really what it is."

On the other side of the ball, the pitching staff kept pressure from reaching the offense.

Starting the game and eventually being picked as player of the game, senior Jeremy Jones allowed just four baserunners in his day. 

Jones allowed singles from the first two batters he faced, but took care of business from there, getting the next three out. He saw a similar story in the second. After getting the first batter out, he allowed a walk and a single. Just like the first inning, Jones limited the damage, finishing the inning two batters later.

In the third, his final inning, Jones shut down the seagulls, striking out two batters and forcing a groundout on the other. 

At the end of his day, Jones threw 53 pitches during three innings of scoreless three-hit ball, striking out five batters.

Following Jones, six arms emerged from the bullpen on the cold Friday night. The seven total arms used It is the first time Walnut Creek used seven arms or more this season. The bullpen allowed a mere one run on two hits, four walks and two hit-by-pitches. 

The use of so many arms seemed to be the plan all along. Cummings talked about the reasons for using so many arms and if we could see that more. 

"It was the plan because we have so many guys now that are getting healthier," Cummings said.  "What you're going to see over the next few days, because this was a short week and we're going to see several people every day now, especially going into next week with only three games. That is the plan. We're going to use a lot of bodies to give these guys opportunities to get on the field, but as well as looking at it and trying to remain competitive and put the right people in the right spots."

Sophomore right-handed pitchers Myles Brand and Alessandro Martinez both threw 10 or fewer pitches in their  outings. It was another dominant outing for the two of them. Brand commanded off his fastball while Martinez used his incredible spin rate to generate outs.

The Crawdads haven't allowed much hard contact. That trend continued Friday against the Seagulls. They did a better job of lowering walks and getting out of jams on the basepaths, something the defense helped facilitate. 

Senior right-hander Kody Perry, alongside sophomore left-handers Austin Bilello and Michael Olsen fired off a combined three innings of scoreless relief. Perry struck out two while Olsen escaped a one-out, two-on jam by striking out the next two. 

The dominant pitching is something that multiple have mentioned game in and game out this season. 

The final run of the night came courtesy of redshirt freshman Bryden Bull. Bull, who has been slumping at the plate, smashed a home run to right field, extending Walnut Creek's lead by three. Bull credits his success to multiple people, but mostly his dad. 

"To be completely honest, I would say 93% of my success goes to my dad," Bull said. "Ever since I was five, six years old, I've been hitting with him. He's been my hitting coach ever since then. Really appreciate all he's done."

The Crawdads continue their road trip when they face rivals Sonoma on Saturday, June 27, at Arnold Field at 6:05 p.m.