The Stompers made three errors and allowed six unearned runs in their 10-1 rubber-match loss to the Crawdads Wednesday.
By Jordan Kimball, Beat Writer
Command’s not the same as control. For a pitcher, command is when you throw strikes. It’s when you paint the zone, disrupt your opponent’s timing and will your team to victory. Command often correlates with control. But when energy levels are low, hits are minimal and errors are being made, teams can have no control, even when their pitcher has complete command.
The Stompers returned home Wednesday for the rubber match of a three-game set against the Crawdads. They’d flashed both command and control in the first two games — one a win, one a loss. But on Wednesday, Sonoma (14-11, 11-9 CCL) lacked the former and completely lost the latter, falling 10-1 to Walnut Creek in the series finale.
“Just keep on grinding it out. It’s one pitch, one at-bat at a time,” Stompers manager Zack Pace said postgame. “(We can’t) get too far ahead of ourselves. Just gotta take it (slowly).”
Most of the Stompers’ games are defined by the early innings. It was the same Wednesday. Yet instead of Sonoma jumping to its common immediate lead, it was the Crawdads that struck first.
Devon Laguinto’s been one of the Stompers’ most consistent pitchers. His two last games were nearly lights out, as Laguinto pitched 11 total innings and allowed just two runs, both resulting in Sonoma victories. When Laguinto shoves, the Stompers win.
On Wednesday, he didn’t shove. It was that simple. He struggled to hit his spots. Esteban Sepulveda — who was absent from previous games — didn’t help Laguinto, displaying “rustiness,” Pace said, behind the dish on simple throws back and balls in the dirt.
Between the battery, the Stompers were in shambles. Each batter Laguinto faced in the first inning worked the count to at least three balls. He walked two, and a passed ball scored the first run of the game. Though Laguinto settled down for the second inning, his semi-disastrous first inning foreshadowed the remainder of the game from the third inning on.
“He didn’t come out sharp like he’s been in the past. Kinda had a rough first inning, but he settled in after that,” Pace said. “Pitch count went up in a hurry, though, and couldn’t extend him.”
In the second inning, Sonoma tied things up. It found life when Trent Keys and newcomer Cameron Hegamin — in his first Stompers at-bat — pushed Keys to third and reached on an error by third baseman Ryley Leininger. Sepulveda knocked Keys home with a sacrifice fly, but that was all the Stompers would get.
From then on, it was all Walnut Creek. On three hits and one official error, the Crawdads extended their lead by four runs in the third inning. Laguinto pinned the zone slightly more than the first, but his defense did him no favors.
A run was scored when a ball went under Brady Shannon’s glove in right field. Nic Sebastiani — who played one game at third base in 2024 — struggled at the hot corner with a ball that ate him up. Another ball was hit to Shannon soon after, which he fired home, but it popped out of Sepulveda’s glove on the tag.
As the Stompers attempted to claw back from the 5-1 deficit, runners in scoring position were not in their favor. With two outs both times, Shannon popped out and struck out in the situation to end the innings.
“He was getting his swings off but just couldn’t get it done,” Pace said of Shannon. “We want him to be successful, and we know he’s not gonna be successful every time, but he’s just gotta get it next time.”
On the mound, Chris Albee relieved Laguinto and shut down the Crawdads from gaining insurance. He pitched two innings and allowed zero runs, lowering his season ERA to 1.08. Micah Marquez replaced Albee for two more and allowed just one run, which came unearned after he missed an underhanded toss from Keys at first base.
That was just the way Wednesday’s contest was playing out. Plays that would result in easy outs nine out of 10 times were miscues. The body language showcased that. As Sepulveda struggled to get into a groove in the squat, he overshot Sebastiani at third base after a strikeout and bounced a few balls into second base on throw-downs.
The game looked decided, but Walnut Creek wanted to make sure. In the eighth, facing two-way sidearm reliever Heeryun Han, the Crawdads teed off. They added their final four runs, extending their lead to nine, as Han allowed two hits and two walks. However, while Han’s outing looked poor on the scoreboard, each run was marked unearned with an error from shortstop Colton Boardman on a transfer that sent the Stompers packing.
Sonoma’s greatest threat came in the ninth. It had bases loaded with one out. But to follow the game’s script, Ben Sebastiani grounded into a soft double play to end the game.
The Stompers will receive a day off on Thursday before returning to Arnold Field Friday for a matchup with the Legends.
“We have a nice off day tomorrow to regroup, and we’ll be ready for the weekend series,” Pace said.