Happy Wednesday, everyone, from the world-wide headquarters (WWHQ) of the Corvallis Knights, your 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 West Coast League champions!
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Linfield College pitcher Colton Meyer (pictured, above) will return to the Knights for the 2020 season. He is a 6-foot, 185-pound sophomore left-hander from Silverton High School in Silverton, Ore.
Originally a 10-day signee, Meyer earned a full-time position and was 1-0, 3.10 in 12 total appearances for Corvallis in 2019, with 15 strikeouts in 20.1 innings. He recorded the final out of the Knights’ title-game victory over Victoria in the West Coast League Championship Series.
Meyer was 1-7, 6.90 in 13 games with the Wildcats in 2019, with 54 strikeouts in 60 innings. He tied former Knight lefty Cason Cunningham (2017-18) for the team lead in starts (12) and led the club in innings pitched.
Meyer was first-team 5A all-state and was a Mid-Willamette Conference first-team all-star in 2018 as a SHS senior. He was also a first-team MWC all-star in 2017 and earned honorable-mention honors in 2016.
He lettered six times in baseball, football and swimming at Silverton.
He is the sixth returnee from the Knights’ 2019 WCL championship team, joining pitchers Sean Fekete (Ohlone College), Jackson Arnsdorf (Corban), Connor Redmond (MSU-Billings), Jacob Dobmeier (UC San Diego) and Eric Hill (LBCC).
Welcome back, Colton.
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The Knights and two members of our front office have been nominated for Celebrate Corvallis Awards, presented by the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce.
The Knights are one of 27 nominees for the inaugural People’s Choice Award. This award represents businesses nominated by the public that connect with their customers and go above and beyond all expectations.
Knights’ President/General Manager Bre Miller has been nominated for the Robert C. Ingalls Business Person of the Year Award, named in honor of the late Corvallis Gazette-Times Publisher and Corvallis Chamber President.
Director of Hospitality Jennifer Beaumont has been nominated for the First Citizen – Junior Category Award, for individuals between the ages of 18 and 41. This is her second nomination in this category. Beaumont was nominated for the award last year as well.
Please click here for full details.
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The New York Mets removed reliever Stephen Nogosek (2013) from their 40-man roster and designated him for assignment on Monday when they signed veteran starter Rick Porcello.
Nogosek made his MLB debut in 2019 and was 0-1, 7.94 in six games, with four strikeouts in 5.2 innings. He spent most of the season at AA Binghamton and AAA Syracuse and was a combined 3-0, 1.05 in 36 games, with four saves and 51 strikeouts in 51.1 innings.
He was a two-time Pac-12 all-star at Oregon and was selected by Boston in the sixth round of the 2016 MLB draft. He was traded to the Mets during the 2017 season.
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The San Francisco Giants have hired alum Justin Viele (2010) as their hitting coach for the 2020 season.
Viele played at San Clara from 2009-13 and then spent two years in the Baltimore minor-league system before becoming a coach. He worked in the Baltimore system in 2015, returned to Santa Clara in 2016, and was in the Dodgers’ minor-league system from 2017-19.
Congrats to Justin. For more on that story, please click here.
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Our 2020 schedule has now been finalized. We will open the season against the Portland Sea Dogs on June 2 on Weyerhaeuser Science, Engineering and Art Day. For the complete home schedule, please click here. For the complete schedule, please click here.
The Knights set a franchise record for total attendance in 2019 by drawing 59,357 fans to Goss Stadium in 36 regular-season and playoff games. We averaged 1,721 fans per regular-season game, and 1,071 fans for the four playoff games.
Thanks to the best fans in the West Coast League.
The WCL All-Star Game is scheduled for July 20 at Paul Thomas Sr. Field in Wenatchee. New AppleSox head coach Ian Sanderson and staff will coach the North Division’s team and the 2019 West Coast League champion Corvallis Knights coaching staff led by Brooke Knight will coach the South Division. For more details, please click here.
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Some news from elsewhere in the West Coast League:
- Ex-major leaguer Jeff Cirillo will manage the Walla Walla Sweets in 2020. Please click here for more details, from Our Sports Central.
- Victoria manager Todd Haney, who led the HarbourCats to within one game of the West Coast League title last summer, has agreed to an extension that will keep him in the role through the 2022 season. Please click here for more details, from Our Sports Central.
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That’s all for today. See you soon!