Wednesday, July 15, Victoria, B.C. – An RBI double in the ninth inning by Ethan Porter of Corvallis drove home the winning run as the South Division edged the North 5-4 in a West Coast League All-Star Game.
A rising sophomore at Oregon State who played right field, Porter (pictured above, left) earned the game’s Most Valuable Player award by going 3-for-5 with a two-run homer, the aforementioned double, a single, a stolen base and three RBIs overall.
Porter’s two-out two-bagger scored Sam Kane (Walla Walla) with the tie-breaking run. Reliever Rafael Espinoza (Portland Pickles) then shut down the North in the bottom half to earn the save.
Kane walked to lead off the top of the ninth, then advanced to second on a two-out single. Porter then drove him home by driving a 2-2 pitch for a double.
Porter’s two-run homer gave the South a 4-0 lead in the second inning. The North scored twice in the third and one run each in the seventh and eighth innings to pull even at 4-4.
Pitcher Moran Codron (Portland, above right), the Knights’ other participant, pitched .2 scoreless innings in his last appearance of the summer. He had one walk and one strikeout.
Codron finished the season at 0-2, 3.86 in five games, with 28 strikeouts in 18.2 innings.
The South Division featured players from the Knights and the Portland Pickles, Bend Elks, Marion Berries, Ridgefield Raptors, Springfield Drifters, Walla Walla Sweets and Yakima Valley Pippins. Jim Hoppel of Portland was the head coach.
Victoria’s Todd Haney coached the North. It included players from the HarbourCats, Bellingham Bells, Edmonton Riverhawks, Kamloops NorthPaws, Kelowna Falcons, Nanaimo NightOwls, Port Angeles Lefties, and Wenatchee AppleSox.
The Knights host the Salem Sock Puppets in a nonleague game on July 16. They resume WCL action against Walla Walla at Goss Stadium on July 17-19.
Corvallis’s probable starting pitchers for July 17-18 have not been announced. Nebraska lefty Colin Nowaczyk (2-0, 2.40) gets the ball on July 19.