Sunday, July 3, Corvallis, Ore. – Temo Becerra had an inside-the-park homer and four RBIs as the Knights topped Port Angeles 12-3 in a West Coast League game at a rocking Goss Stadium.
Delighting a sellout Fireworks Night crowd of 3,452, the Knights (16-6 all, 16-5 WCL) completed a series sweep and reached double figures for the third consecutive game. They outscored the Lefties 33-10 in the series.
A rising sophomore at Stanford, Becerra capped his biggest night with the Knights in the seventh inning when two Lefties’ outfielder collided while attempting to snare his sinking line drive in right-center field. The ball bounced past both defenders and he easily circled the bases for a two-run homer.
He also had a sacrifice fly to deep center field, an RBI grounder, two runs scored, a stolen base and errorless defense on both chances at third base.
Right fielder Brady Lavoie (San Diego State) was 2-for-3 with two runs, and is now 7-for-14 (.500) in his last four games, raising his average from .219 to .298. Titus Dumitru (Linn-Benton) had two hits and an RBI and Spencer Scott (Portland) drove in two runs.
Starter Ryan Brown (Oregon State) allowed two hits and struck out four in three scoreless innings but was not eligible for the victory as he didn’t complete five frames. Winner Josh Emanuels (Washington) went the final 2.2 innings and recorded seven of his eight outs by strikeout.
The Knights play a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader at Portland on Sunday, making up two of the three games against the Pickles that were rained out on June 10-12. Incoming Stanford freshman Matt Scott (0-0, 3.85) will start the opener; Oregon State rightly Ian Lawson (0-0, 0.00) gets the ball in the nightcap. Both games will be seven innings.
The third game has been rescheduled for July 18, also at Portland.
Corvallis opens a three-game series with Ridgefield on Tuesday in Corvallis. Washington State righty Duke Brotherton (1-0, 4.50) is the probable starter.
Game 2 is at Ridgefield on Wednesday and the series concludes in Corvallis on Thursday. The probables for the Knights are Utah righty Jaden Harris (1-0, 2.07) and San Francisco righty Jesse Barron (3-0, 0.,00), respectively.