Walnut Creek late offense powered by vocal bullpen during victory against rivals

Tied at 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning in what had been a tight and tense battle with their arch rivals, the Walnut Creek bullpen shifted slightly from their usual area to the left field wall.

In need of a spark, an 11-game winning streak in the balance, the congregation of pitchers showed their identity. Screaming, cheering and making whatever noise they could, it felt as if their noise were the driving force in the Crawdads winning 10-2, moving to 16-4 while on a now 12-game unbeaten run.

One member of the group was pitcher Joey Lorenzini, who started Tuesday's game in his first appearance of the season. Having the chance to experience the Crawdad identity on day one, Lorenzini was pumped to be a part of the team.

"Summer ball is a blast," Lorenzini said. "The guys out there, we all create a good bond. I've only been here for a day, but everybody's welcomed me, and it's been a really fun experience. Everybody came together and enjoyed a little bit of the night and made it as fun as it can be."

On the field, Walnut Creek created their runs through whatever way necessary. Scoring on bunts, errors and sacrifice groundouts might not be the most exciting way to play baseball, but fans at Arnold Field wouldn't have been able to tell based on the reactions from the group in left field.

While the Crawdads players have seemed like an eccentric crew in 2026, Tuesday was the first time the team had been that active. When manager Brant Cummings saw the players as excited as they were, he was over the moon. 

"Fires me up when they get involved like that and demonstrate support for their teammates out here," Cummings said. "Drawing attention to themselves and showing the energy they did was awesome. They're a goofy bunch, and I'm glad to have them."

Before moving to rest with the other pitchers, Lorenzini had an impressive start on the mound. He allowed just one baserunner on a hit by pitch in his two innings of work, striking out four batters.

Having his first start after a long break, Lorenzini felt very comfortable on the mound.

"Just trying to land strikes, be in the zone," Lorenzini said. "No matter the stuff you got, you always got to compete, and if you're in the zone, you know you'll help your team win."

Junior Vance Haskins and senior Ryan DeLaney had near identical outings to follow him as well. Both guys finished their days with one perfect inning of work, Haskins striking out two and DeLaney punching one. 

At the end of four innings, the Crawdads had allowed just one baserunner and struck out seven. Seeing an impressive opening to the game, Cummings emphasized the importance of pitching like what was shown against Sonoma.

"Hopefully it gets better and better every time," Cummings said. "As we move through this into the next month, I look forward to people like that giving us a chance to win down the stretch."

While the Stompers got on the board in the fifth inning, Walnut Creek was still looking for offense on the board entering the sixth inning.

Then sophomore catcher Brandon Clizbe stepped in.

After two singles to start the sixth inning, Clize singled to drive in the first Crawdad run of the game. In the next inning, Clizbe tied the game up with a sacrifice fly.

Despite a rough stretch for Clizbe, he seems to finally be getting the at bats necessary to find him a groove. While Clizbe was a major part in starting the offense's energy, his mindset when he steps up to the plate doesn't have a set end goal in mind.

"Team at bats are really what gets your mental game going and your confidence up," Clizbe said. "That's what you need to win games, so that's what I did."

After Clizbe got the offense started in the sixth and seventh innings, the offense fully clicked into gear in the eighth and ninth. 

Following two singles and a groundout that advanced the runners to open the inning, junior left fielder Daniel Polasek grounded out to drive in a run.

Then, with two outs, the Crawdads were not to be stopped. Redshirt freshman infielder and senior utility man Ryan Ellis both reached on errors to bring home runs before junior infielder Alijah Ramos singled to drive in another.

In the ninth, Walnut Creek continued to scrap together runs. 

Polasek found another RBI opportunity with the bases loaded and just one out. After a single up the middle, two runs crossed the plate, bringing Polasek's RBI tally up to three. 

Later that inning, Ellis came back up to the plate, still with just one out and the bases loaded. Like Polasek before him, Ellis singled to drive in two runs.

As the ninth came to a close, Walnut Creek found itself up 10-2, having scored all runs unanswered.

His team finding any way to score runs, Cummings was proud of how the offense clicked late in the game.

"We need flexibility," Cummings said. "The other part of offensive flexibility is having several players be able to help the offense. That's what makes it tough, but when it's one or two guys every day, eventually that's not going to be enough. To have those guys contribute in the way in which they did makes us better."

On the bump, sophomores Weston Thornbury and Alessandro Martinez pitched the last three innings, combining to allow just one baserunner and strike out three.

Now tied for the top spot in the CCL North and just two games before the all star break, the Crawdads are on a historic hot streak.

Having been a Crawdad the year before, Clizbe has a lot of perspective of the Walnut Creek franchise. When he looks at the 2026 team, he chooses his words well.

"It is very special," Clizbe said. "This year is just such a great group of guys. We're very close. We're just riding this win bus right now, and we're keeping the energy up every day. Everybody wants to keep winning, and we're just gonna keep doing it."