Sydney Blue Sox Name Brooke Knight Head Coach

Wednesday, March 20, Corvallis, Ore. – Veteran Corvallis Knights skipper Brooke Knight will be the head coach of the Sydney Blue Sox for the 2024-25 season, the Australian Baseball league team announced earlier this week.

It will be the third stint in the ABL for Knight, a Corvallis native, Oregon State baseball alumnus and Western Oregon graduate, Brooke has coached the Knights since 2008. He’s also skippered the ABL’s Perth Heat and Adelaide Giants franchises and brings what the Blue Sox called “an impressive track record of success and a wealth of knowledge” to the franchise.

“It is an honor to be able to have the opportunity to lead the Sydney Blue Sox into the 2024-25 ABL season,” Knight said. “We will work hard to put a quality product on the field that will inspire fans and supporters alike.

“Our collective and steadfast goals will be to compete hard, compete smart, and compete for each other.”

Added Sydney Blue Sox principal owner Darren Macbeth: “We are very proud that Brooke has chosen to join the Blue Sox at this pivotal time.

“We are all aligned with what we need to do moving forward to make Sydney a better club on the field and show the fans that we want to compete at the highest level in the ABL.”

The Blue Sox will open the season in November. Knight will begin his 16th season with the Corvallis Knights this June.

Coach Knight has extensive ABL experience. He guided the Perth Heat to successive championships in 2011 and 2012. The following year he joined the Canberra coaching staff in Taichung, Taiwan to help the Calvary capture the 2013 Asia Series title.

He then returned to the ABL to coach the Adelaide Bite (now Giants) during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. They won the regular-season title in 2015 but lost to Perth in the championship series.

Knight re-joined the Heat for the 2020 season and also was an assistant coach for Team Australia in the 2020 KBO Challenge.

Brooke’s son Briley, a four-year Corvallis Knight standout and the 2019 West Coast League MVP, helped the Adelaide Giants win the ABL title, known as the Claxton Shield, last season. Briley had the championship-winning hit, smacking a two-run, two-out double to break a 1-1 deadlock in the bottom of the 8th in a decisive game 3 to clinch it for Adelaide.

The most successful coach in West Coast league history, Brooke Knight has earned 10 titles in 13 championship-series appearances and posted a 666-276 (.707) record over his 15-year stint. He directed the Knights to WCL crowns in 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

The Knights have qualified for the playoffs in all 15 of his seasons. He garnered WCL Coach of the Year honors in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022.

The seven-time defending champs West Coast League home opener is Friday, June 14 versus the Port Angeles Lefties. Corvallis opens its WCL campaign on Friday, May 31 at David Story Field in Longview, Washington versus longtime rival Cowlitz.

Knights single-game tickets go on sale on Monday, April 1.