Sway Ray Deals While Schmalzle and Most, Play Hero in Two Walk-Off Wins

A roller coaster home stand for the Legends was capped off with a second straight walk-off victory against the Seagulls after previously beating the Merchants and Crawdads at the College of San Mateo.

Alameda Merchants

The Merchants arrived Tuesday afternoon, having beat the Legends 9-3 a week prior to their California Collegiate League rematch. Diego Menjivar got the start and provided a strong 3.1 shutout performance with five strikeouts. However, Menjivar was still recovering from an illness before taking the ball. “I’ve been sick the last couple days so I didn’t have my best stuff, a lot of the credit has to go to my defense.” Most people want to rest and watch their preferred TV Show on Netflix while sick. Not Menjivar. His eyes were set on facing the second place team in the division. 

Menjivar set the tone, and the bullpen came through for the teams first shutout of the season. Setting the stage for the hottest team in California, the Walnut Creek Crawdads, rocking a seven game win streak at the time. What felt like a primetime Sunday Night Baseball evening at College of San Mateo, Legends ace Ray Hernandez took the ball. He faced the top offense in the CCL, leading the league in OPS, AVG, and Runs scored. 

Walnut Creek Crawdads

Ray was no stranger to the moment coming from a Utah Valley team who reached the Eugene Regionals this year. As we call him now, “Sway Ray” due to his rocking of the ball during his pitching windup, was brilliant. 

Already rolling through 4 shutout innings, the stage was set for James Bose with two on and two out. Previously named Legends Hitter of the Week, Bose ripped a hanging curveball, rolling up against the left center field fence. Scoring both Tucker Biehl and TJ Schmalzle, the Legends went up 3-0.

Continuing to capitalize off Crawdad miscues, they extending their lead to four in the 6th. With no lead safe, Will Robbins hunted a fastball ripping it into left field for an RBI double. Two batters later, Quincy Via joined the hit parade scoring Robbins from second. All the momentum was with the Legends leading 6-0 in the 7th.

Sway Ray’s night would come to an end finishing with seven innings, allowing just one run and striking out seven. But a string of walks and timely hits from the Crawdads completely flipped the feel of this game. In the blink of an eye, the Crawdads had tied the game with a five run 8th inning. 

Star hitter, Will Anderson, was called on to pitch, a task he was occasionally handed at Ohlone College making 13 appearances last season. All seats became vacant as players, fans and coaches rose to their feet entering the ninth. The drama was stirring as the Crawdads had the go-ahead run on third and two outs. A slow grounder to the right side created a bang-bang play at 1st base but not in time granting the Crawdads their first lead.

Head Coach Nick Sanzeri couldn’t think of a better leadoff man for a ninth inning rally than speedster Quincy Via. A soft dribbler to third was just enough to beat the throw and put the winning run at the plate. Legends hearts quickly sank after a near pickoff nightmare occurred. Fortunately, Crawdads’ pitcher lost possession of the ball while tagging Via, making him safe. Blake Cowans made it hurt after dropping a single into right field. Deuce Filter, a recent Santa Clara commit, reached on a fielder choice loading the bases for the top of the lineup. 

After two unproductive outs, the winning run remained on second and TJ Schmalzle stepped up. Seconds later, Schmalzle was drenched with water after his game winning two-run single. “The pitcher was throwing a lot of fastballs so I was just trying to stay in the zone and stay on top [of the ball]” Schmalzle said. 

Will Anderson picked up his first pitching win of the season as the Legends took what was theirs from the start, defeating the Crawdads 8-7.

San Francisco Seagulls

After beating the top two teams in the CCL North Division, the Legends matched up with the 2-10 San Francisco Seagulls. Otherwise known as, “a trap game,” a loss would kill any momentum picked up from the previous two wins. 

The Legends took an early 3-1 lead thanks to a Charlie Deggeller two-run single in the 3rd. Although the Seagulls answered with a two-run home run in the 4th. Via again ignited a rally with a single and stolen base. He now leads the CCL with 12 stolen bases which is no surprise for someone who broke the single season stolen base record at Marymount University with 39. Isaiah Landry would later knock in Via with a groundout putting the Legends in front.

A couple of scoreless innings from Joseph Lee added to an impressive outing which would reach the ninth inning. After 130 pitches, his night concluded after 8.1 innings and striking out five. Unfortunately, the Seagulls Jake Brewer collected his third hit, with a two-out triple and scored on a double tying the game at five.

Sitting comfortably in the 9th as Cowans, Austin Rabago, and Biehl load the bases for pinch hitter Dane Most. The Seagulls, needing two outs to avoid a walk-off loss, traded an outfielder for an extra infielder. Lining up three infielders on the left side and two players on the right, Most adjusted his approach. 

It didn’t take much, as Most hit a shallow fly ball to right, easily scoring Cowans from third after an awkward throw. “I knew if I just got the ball anywhere in the outfield, our guy was going to get it done,” Most said postgame.

The Legends secured the 5-4 walk-off win extending the win streak to three as they approach an important weekend against the Stompers.

Upcoming Games

6/21 @ Sonoma Stompers 6pm

6/22 @ Sonoma Stompers 6pm

6/24 vs San Francisco Seagulls 5pm

6/25 vs San Francisco Seagulls 5pm