Friday, August 2, Bend, Ore. – Corvallis scored five times in the ninth inning to break a 4-4 tie in a 9-5 victory over Bend in a South Division encounter at Vince Genna Stadium.
The rally completed a comeback from an early 4-0 deficit for the Knights (43-12 overall, 37-12 WCL, 15-7 second half). They scored three times in the sixth to draw close, tied the game in the eighth and pulled away in the ninth.
An RBI single by Luke Lavin (Stanford) sent Corvallis ahead 5-4 in the decisive inning. A second run scored on a wild pitch. A groundout by Thomas Ferroggiaro (Santa Clara) made it 7-4 and Ty Yukumoto (Pacific, pictured above) plated two on a double sacrifice squeeze bunt for an insurmountable 9-4 advantage.
Yukumoto was 1-for-3 with four RBIs; he also drove in runs in the sixth and eighth innings. Blake Wilson doubled twice and had two RBIs in the key sixth inning.
Reliever Sean Wiese (Arizona Christian) pitched four scoreless innings, struck out two, got the win and lowered his ERA to 0.88. He has allowed just one earned run in his last 16.2 innings over five appearances.
Corvallis remained two games ahead of Portland (35-14) in the race for the best overall record and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Pickles rallied for three runs in the 10th inning to edge Yakima Valley 6-5. Corvallis owns the tie-breaker, if needed.
The series returns to Corvallis for Game 2 at 7:15 p.m. Aug. 3. Oregon State’s James DeCremer (0-0, 4.58) will start for the Knights, opposed by Jackson Elder (3-1, 3.71) of Utah for the Elks.
The series concludes at 5:05 p.m. Aug. 4, also at Goss Stadium in the regular-season home finale for the Knights. Payton Riske (2-2, 3.78) of Utah will start for Corvallis, opposed by Andrew Harbour (2-2, 2.34) of USC for the Elks.
Corvallis concludes the regular season at Victoria on Aug. 5-7.
Corvallis claimed the first-half South Division championship and advanced to the West Coast League playoffs for the 17th consecutive season. The postseason starts on Aug. 10; Corvallis will have the home-field advantage in the best-of-3 divisional round.