Saturday, Aug. 1, Corvallis, Ore. – Starter Arlo Pendleton pitched five strong innings for the victory and the Knights clinched their South Division series with Yakima Valley by thumping the Pippins 15-1.
An enthusiastic Star Wars Night crowd of 1,749 at Goss Stadium saw Pendleton (pictured, above) stifle the Pippins on two hits and one run, which was unearned because of his own error.
The Cal Poly righty struck out six and the two batters he walked were erased on double plays. He earned Washington Park Advisors Player of the Game honors.
The Knights (32-22, 28-22 WCL, 15-8 second half) won their fourth consecutive series. An 8-3 record in their last 11 games has moved them into a tie with Walla Walla for first place in the second-half South Division title race. Both teams have four games remaining; the Sweets hold the tiebreaker if they finish in a deadlock.
The second-half winner joins Ridgefield in earning an automatic playoff berth and will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming divisional playoffs. Ridgefield won the first half and is the top seed. The Knights finish the season at Ridgefield; the Sweets play at Marion.
A six-run fourth inning gave the Knights a 10-1 lead and they were never challenged. Corvallis hit double figures for the sixth time in their last nine games, a span in which they’ve scored 108 runs.
The Knights took advantage of Yakima Valley control problems. Pippins pitching hit or walked 14 Knights and 10 of them scored.
Shortstop Ryan Severns (UCSB) doubled, singled, scored once and drove in four runs, giving him six RBIs, three extra-base hits and nine total bases through the first two games of the series.
Maverick Russell (UCSB) doubled, singled, scored three times and drove in two. He also walked three times and reached safely in five of six at-bats.
Second baseman Diego Cruz (Oregon State) was 2-for-3 and scored three times. Severns and Cruz were also the middlemen on three inning-ending double plays.
Micah Hagler (Seattle) and Levi Hodges (Taft) each followed Pendleton with two scoreless innings to close out the game.
The Knights finish the home portion of the regular season at 5:05 p.m. on Aug. 2. Their starting pitcher is TBA.
Corvallis concludes the regular season at Ridgefield on Aug. 3-5. The postseason playoffs, involving the top four teams from the North and South divisions, begin on Aug. 7 with the best-of-3 divisional round.
The crowd of 1,749 raised the season attendance to 47,075 in 31 dates. That’s an average of 1,5119 per opening.