Corvallis was led by outfielder Nick Yovetich of San Francisco (pictured) as the left-handed hitter doubled, tripled and knocked in 4 runs.
Yovetich capped a five-run sixth-inning with a bases loaded triple to put the Knights up 11-1. Catcher Nicholas Klemp, a future Portland Pilot, plated Yovetich with a sacrifice fly to extend Corvallis’s lead to 12-1.
Chaffey battled back with 5 runs in the top of the 7th roughing up reliever Trevor Bateson of UC Riverside to close the gap to 12-6. The visitors scored twice more in the top of the eighth on wild pitches by Nick Caviglia of Utah to make it 12-8.
Seven Knights pitchers got work with sophomore-to-be Marques Johnson of Riverside CC making his Knights’ debut in relief. Johnson pitched an inning, gave up one run and earned the win.
Connor Redmond was stellar out of the bullpen, replacing starter Colton Meyer of Linfield, tossing two scoreless innings of relief with three strikeouts.
Briley Knight of Utah, Matthew Gretler of Oregon State, Michael Curialle of UCLA and Yovetich all collected two hits for the Knights. Briley Knight homered in the first inning and Gretler delivered a two-run single in the Knights six-run uprising in the fifth inning.
Corvallis returns to WCL action tomorrow night as they welcome division rival Walla Walla to Goss Stadium. The Sweets swept the Knights early in the season at Borleske Stadium, and sit in second place in the WCL South with an overall record of 20-12. Andrew Walling of Oregon State gets the start for Corvallis in game one of the series. Game two is Saturday at 6:30 pm, and the finale is set for Sunday at 3 pm.
With the win tonight, the Knights improve their record to 33-7 overall.