Newest Knights impact 2-0 win over Portland

Friday, June 5, Portland, Ore.  – The reinforced Knights blanked Portland 2-0 at Walker Stadium in the opener of a three-game West Coast League showdown with the arch-rival Pickles.

Lefty Landen Salvesen (Utah) and right-handers Dayne Castillo (LBCC, above left) and incoming Oregon Stater Grayson Riding (Southern Idaho, above right) combined to space seven hits and leave 12 Pickles high and dry on the bases in an outstanding group performance.

The Knights (6-2, 5-2 WCL) were bolstered by the arrival of Riding, third baseman Ian Draper (Washington) and center fielder Max Medina (incoming Cal Poly). All three played huge roles.

Salvesen started and kept the Pickles off the board despite allowing three hits and five walks in 2.2 innings. Portland stranded two in the first, and three in the second.

Castillo relieved with two out and two on in the third and ended the threat with a groundout. He then pitched until the seventh, logging four innings overall. He allowed one hit and one walk while fanning two.

Riding took over in the seventh with two outs and a runner at third. After a walk, he got a strikeout to end the inning and then completed the seven-out save in an impressive summer debut.

Portland put runners on first and second with one out in the ninth on a walk and an infield single. However, Draper speared a ground ball, stepped on third for the second out and fired across the diamond to first baseman Trey Swygart (Portland), who made a clean scoop of a one-hop throw for the third out.

Draper and Medina figured prominently in two-run, fourth-inning rally that resulted in the only runs of Corvallis’s first shutout of the Pickles since a 2-0, 12-inning blanking at Walker Stadium on July 24, 2019.

With two outs, Draper singled to advance Swygart to third. Berkley Reents (George Fox) beat out an infield single to score Swygart, and Draper came home on Medina’s line single to right field.

Reents and Chanz Flores (LBCC), the hero of the June 4 victory at Walla Walla, had two hits apiece.

Game 2 of the series is set for 7:15 p.m. on June 6 at Walker Stadium. The Knights conclude their season-opening, nine-game road trip with the series finale against the Pickles at 6:15 p.m. June 7.

After two off days, the Knights open their home schedule on June 10 against the Marion Berries, starting at 6:35 p.m. at Goss Stadium.

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