Saturday, July 12, Walla Walla, Wash. – Trey Swygart homered and drove in four runs to lead the Knight to a 10-3 rout of Walla Walla at Borleske Stadium in the second game of their South Division series.
The Knights (27-11 all, 24-11 WCL, 7-1 second half) took the series by winning for the 12th time in their last 13 West Coast League games. Corvallis won the series opener 9-7 on July 11.
A rising sophomore at Portland, Swygart was 2-for-5 with a two-run single that put the Knights ahead for good 5-3 in the third inning, and a two-run homer that closed the scoring in the top of the ninth.
Thomas Ferroggiaro (Santa Clara) and Maddox Riske (USC) each had two hits, two runs and an RBI. Kellen Segel (LBCC) drove in two runs and future Oregon Stater Josh Proctor added a solo homer.
Corvallis took advantage of a two-out error to score twice in the first inning on Segel’s two-out single. The Sweets immediately answered back, scoring once in the first and twice in the second to grab a 3-2 lead before the Knights responded.
Blake Wilson (Washington) tripled leading off the third and scored on Ferroggiaro’s single. The Knights eventually loaded the bases and Swygart delivered a two-run single for a 5-3 lead.
Proctor led off the sixth with a solo homer, his first since he hit a pair on June 11 in the Knights home opener. He also took the team lead with three homers.
Corvallis added four more runs in the ninth. Riske and Cole Katayama-Stall (Portland) had RBIs and Swygart slammed a two-run homer for the clinching runs.
Knights starter Trey Newmann (Portland) struggled with his control in the first two innings and walked four batters, three of whom scored. But he settled down after that and held the Sweets scoreless through the fifth inning.
Nate Marshall (Eastern Illinois), Troy Cooper (Cal Poly) and Brock Ketelsen (Stanford) finished up, combining for four innings of scoreless relief.
Newman struck out four, walked four and gave up five hits but he made the big pitches in innings 3-5 to keep the Sweets at bay. He is 2-0 in his last two starts, with 13 strikeouts, and is 3-0 overall.
Corvallis started the season by dropping its first two West Coast League series on the road and returned to Corvallis on June 8 with a 1-5 league mark. It fell to 4-7 after losing the opener of a June 15 doubleheader with Marion, but is 20-4 since then, with seven consecutive series victories.
The series and road trip concludes at 6:05 p.m. July 13. Zach Johnson of Linfield (1-1, 4.09) goes for the Knights vs. Peysen Sweeny of Washington (0-0, 4.50) for the Sweets.
The Knights next home game is the July 15 non-conference matchup with the Corvallis Gerding Construction American Legion team.
The WCL All-Star Game at Bellingham follows on July 16. Infielder Mason Riske (USC), pitcher J’Shawn Unger (Iowa Western CC), center fielder Brock Ketelsen (Stanford) and catcher Xavier Rios (CSUN) will represent the Knights on the South Division squad.