Knights rally, defeat Sweets to advance

Sunday, Aug. 9, Corvallis, Ore. – With their backs against the wall, the Knights responded in championship style.

Corvallis erased a 4-1 deficit with a five two-out runs in the third inning to grab a 6-4 lead over Walla Walla in Game 3 of their South Division playoff series. The bullpen dominated the rest of the way, and the Knights posted a 9-6 win to keep their West Coast League title dreams alive.

The Knights (37-24) will host Ridgefield at 6:35 p.m. Aug. 11 in the winner-take-all South Division championship game. The victor moves on to face either Wenatchee or Bellingham in the Aug. 13 WCL Championship game. The Knights were 4-2 vs. the Raptors in the regular season, winning 2 of 3 in Corvallis and in Ridgefield.

Corvallis trailed 4-1 but had runners on second and third with two outs in the third inning when the game turned on its axis. Ethan Porter (Oregon State) drilled an opposite-field single to score two, cutting the deficit to 4-3.

Dakota Chun (Portland) singled and both he and Porter scampered home on Ryan Severn’s (UCSB) double to the gap, putting the Knights up 5-4. Max Medina (Cal Poly) followed with an RBI single for a 6-4 cushion.

Walla Walla came back with a run in the fourth, but reliever Cooper Markham (Oregon) ended the inning with a strikeout. He then retired the next six hitters in order, getting the Knights to the seventh inning unscathed.

The Knights added an insurance run in the fourth and two more in the sixth for a 9-5 lead. Colin Nowaczyk (Nebraska) pitched a perfect seventh and Kellen Segel (Cal Poly) handled the final two innings, allowing a meaningless run in the ninth.

All told Markham, Nowaczyk and Segel allowed just one run and three hits over the final 5.1 innings. They combined for seven strikeouts and only one walk.

The Knights erupted for 15 hits the night after getting just four hits in a 3-2 loss in Game 2. Chun singled, doubled, tripled, drove in a run and scored three times to earn Washington Park Advisors Player of the Game honors.

Zane Garvey (Portland, pictured above) was 3-for-3 with a double, two runs and a walk. Severns was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run. Medina was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Diego Cruz (OSU) was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.

The Knights have played in the South Division championship game in each of their 19 seasons in Corvallis. They have not advanced to the WCL’s final game/series since 2023, however, having lost to Portland in the last two division championship games.

Corvallis is a 10-time WCL champion, with titles in 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Ridgefield eliminated Portland 12-8 on Aug. 9 in the winner-take-all Game 3 of their series. The Raptors won the final two games after losing the series opener at Portland.

In the North Division, host Wenatchee defeated Kelowna on Aug. 8 to sweep that series and advance to the division championship game.

Bellingham ousted Nanaimo 17-4 in Game 3 on Aug. 9 to win that series 2-1. Wenatchee will host Bellingham on Aug. 11 for the North Division title; the victor advances to the Aug. 13 WCL Championship game.

Either Wenatchee or Bellingham will host the WCL Championship game, based on best overall records.

The crowd of 648 raised the season attendance to 50,241 in 34 dates. That’s an average of 1,478 per opening.

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