Knights blank Edmonton, claim initial game against Riverhawks

Tuesday, July 12, Edmonton, Alberta – Corvallis won its initial game against the first-year Edmonton franchise by posting a 5-0 victory over the Riverhawks at Re/Max Field.

Shortstop Zander Darby (UCSB, pictured, above) continued his recent hot streak by slamming a solo homer and two singles. Kiko Romero (Arizona in 2023) double, tripled and drove in a run; Mason Le (CSU Northridge) added two hits and an RBI and Jonah Advincula (Redlands) also had two hits and scorsed twice.

Corvallis struck quickly and scored three times in the first inning on Romero’s RBI double, Le’s RBI single and a run-scoring groundout from Temo Becerra’s (Stanford). Darby’s homer made it 4-0 in the third inning. Romero tripled home Advincula with the final tally in the ninth inning.

It was Darby’s third homer in the last four games, and his fourth overall. He is hitting .611 (11-18) during a five-game hitting streak that has raised his average from .200 to .306, with six runs scored and four RBIs.

Starter Ryan Brown (Oregon State) booked four scoreless innings, with six strikeouts but did not go the required five innings to be credited with a win. He allowed three hits, all in the second inning, but got two strikeouts to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.

The four innings were a season-best for Brown, OSU’s closer during the college season. He lowered his ERA from 2.57 to 1.63.

Reliever Will Clark (Pacific U) fanned four in two scoreless innings and earned the pitching decision. Ian Lawson (OSU) finished up with three scoreless frames to earn the save; he allowed one hit and struck out three and wrapped up the game in a quick 2:14.

The Knights (20-11 all, 20-10 WCL, 2-2 second half) clinched their 15^th consecutive postseason berth on July 7 by winning the South Division’s first-half championship by two games over Ridgefield. They will be the No. 1 seed in the South Division playoffs.

The playoffs begin on Aug. 9 with the best-of-3 opening round. Corvallis will open the home portion of the postseason with Game 2 on Aug. 10. If necessary, Game 3 will be at Goss Stadium on Aug. 11.

The series resumes at 6:05 pm on Wednesday; Washington State righthander Duke Brotherton (1-1, 6.54) is the Knights’ probable starter. Utah righty Cam Day (0-0, 1.80) gets the ball in Thursday’s 6:05 pm series finale.

The Knights then visit Wenatchee on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They conclude a 10-day road trip with a makeup game at Portland on July 18.

Their next home series following the road trip is July 19-21 against Cowlitz.

In other Knights-related news, two players with connections to the team earned Freshman All-American honors earlier this month.

Alum Travis Bazzana (2021) of Oregon State, the 2021 WCL Most Valuable Player and batting champion, earned first-team honors from Baseball America and second-team honors from D1baseball.com.

Cal Poly catcher Ryan Stafford, who is expected to join the club later this month, earned first-team honors from Baseball America.

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