Wednesday, June 5, Bend, Ore. – The Knights stretched their season-opening winning streak to five consecutive games with a 7-1 victory over the Bend Elks in a West Coast League game at Vince Genna Stadium.
The Knights (5-0 all, 4-0 WCL) thus won the series against their longtime South Division rivals. Corvallis prevailed 14-6 in the June 4 series opener.
Third baseman Kevin Takeuchi (USC, pictured above right) got the Knights started with a three-run, fourth-inning homer over the left-field fence that broke a scoreless tie. It was the team’s first homer of the summer, and it doubled Takeuchi’s RBI output from three to six.
Corvallis broke the game open by scoring four times in the eighth inning on RBI singles from first baseman Colter McAnelly (Utah), left fielder Kellen Segel (LBCC) and catcher Cole Snidow (Phoenix College, pictured above left) and an RBI fielder’s choice by Brandon Cabrera (Lewis-Clark State).
Snidow had three hits; Tyler Howard (Portland) and Ty Yukumoto (Pacific) doubled. McAnelly had two hits and Takeuchi scored twice; eight of the nine starters had at least one base hit.
Starting pitcher Caleb Debban (George Fox) went five strong innings and earned the decision. He allowed one run on three hits, struck out four, and threw 42 strikes in 65 pitches.
Debban handed a 3-1 advantage over to reliever Gabe Hernandez (Cal State Northridge), who pitched three innings of two-hit, shutout relief. He struck out four, issued no walks and threw 25 strikes in 32 pitches.
Returnee Bransen Kuehl (Utah) authored a perfect ninth, with 10 strikes in 12 pitches. Overall the Knights pitchers struck out nine, walked just one and combined to throw 77 strikes in an efficient 102 pitches.
The Knights have now outscored the opposition 45-8 in their four WCL games.
Corvallis goes for the sweep at 6:35 p.m. on June 6. The projected starting pitchers are Colter McAnelly (1-0, 0.00) of Utah for the Knights vs. Utes righty Jackson Elder (0-0, 1.80) for Bend.
The Knights then travel to Yakima Valley (June 7-9), return home for an off-day on June 10, then head up to Portland (June 11-13) for a series with the Pickles.
Corvallis opens the home portion of the season on Friday, June 14 when they host the Port Angeles Lefties in a 6:35 p.m. contest at Goss Stadium.