Knights shut down Sweets, even series

Saturday, July 18, Corvallis, Ore.  – Corvallis parlayed one of its top pitching performances of the summer into a 4-2 win over South Division-leader Walla Walla before a Drone Night crowd of 2,503.

The Knights (24-18, 20-18 WCL, 7-4 second half) bounced back from a 10-5 setback in the July 17 opener to even the series.

Stanford-bound righty Bryce Hill (pictured, above) turned in his top performance of the summer. He allowed one unearned run and three hits over solid five innings, with no walks and three strikeouts.

He threw 39 strikes on 59 pitches, got seven fly-ball outs and stranded three Sweets in his final two innings, two in scoring position. He lowered his ERA from 5.27 to 3.86 and was named the Washington Park Advisors Player of the Game.

Micah Hagler (Seattle) followed with a knockout three-inning effort to set up closer Kellen Segel (Cal Poly). Hagler allowed one hit, had three strikeouts and faced only one batter over the three-inning minimum.

Two scratch hits and some fielding miscues in the ninth scored an unearned run to draw the Sweets within 4-2, with the tying run at the plate with one out. However, Segel got a ground out and a fly out to earn his sixth save, ending the game in an efficient 2:27.

Corvallis scored all four runs in the third inning. Infield errors sandwiched around a sacrifice bunt put runners on the corners and Diego Cruz (Oregon State) singled the first run home.

Ethan Porter (OSU) followed with another RBI single for a 2-0 advantage. Cruz and Porter moved up on a double steal and both came home on Will Jesske’s (Nebraska) two-run single to double the advantage to 4-0.

Porter singled twice, doubled, stole a base, drove in a run and scored. Cruz had two hits, two steals, a run and an RBI.

Cal Poly righty Arlo Pendleton (1-1, 3.27) is the Knights’ probable for the July 19 finale, starting at 5:05 p.m.

Corvallis idle on July 20. The homestand concludes on July 20-22 with a South Division series against the Bend Elks; all three games begin at 6:35 p.m.

The Drone Show Night crowd of 2,503 raised the season attendance to 33,865 in 22 dates, an average of 1,539 per opening.

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