Knights throttle Walla Walla 14-0, take South Division series

Wednesday, July 31, Corvallis, Ore. – Corvallis bats remained red-hot and the Knights bashed Walla Walla 14-0 in the rubber game of the South Division series before a Goss Stadium crowd of 1,251.

The Knights (41-12 overall, 36-12 WCL, 14-7 second half) raked four Sweets pitchers for five doubles, a triple and 12 hits overall. Corvallis outscored Walla Walla 23-1 in the final two games of the series after losing the opener 8-0.

Corvallis received stellar pitching from starter Cohen Gomez (Stanford, pictured above) and reliever Zach Johnson (Salt Lake CC), Gabe Hernandez (CSUN) and CJ Colyer (Utah Valley). Gomez got the win and earned Washington Park Advisors Player of the Game honors.

They combined to shut down the Sweets on one hit, a single by the second batter of the game. After that, they retired 26 of the next 28 batters, the last 24 in order.

Cohen escaped unscathed from a two-on jam in the first inning, walked the leadoff batter in the second and then retired 12 consecutive Sweets. He struck out five and walked two in his five-inning stint.

It was his second outstanding start in a row. He allowed just two runs in six innings in a 12-3 win at Ridgefield in July 26 and now has given up just two runs and five hits in his last 11 innings, with eight strikeouts. lowering his ERA to 3.77.

Johnson, who arrived for his second stint with the team this week, struck out three in two hitless innings. Hernandez and Colyer went one perfect inning apiece.

First baseman Colter McAnelly (Utah) doubled, tripled, drove in two and scored twice. Right fielder Ben Leid (Central Washington) singled twice, walked and drove in a run and Blake Wilson (Washington) singled, doubled and drove in two.

Kevin Takeuchi (USC), Brandon Cabrera (Lewis-Clark State) and Kasen Khansarinia (UCLA) also doubled. Cabrera and Thomas Ferroggiaro (Santa Clara) scored three times; every player in the lineup had at least one RBI and everyone except Takeuchi scored at least once.

Corvallis remained two games ahead of Portland (34-13 WCL) in the race for the best overall record and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Knights wrap up their seven-game homestand on Aug. 1 with a non-league encounter against the Cascade Collegiate League Showcase team.

They then begin a split-venue series with Bend on Aug. 2 at Vince Genna Stadium in Bend. The Aug. 3 and Aug. 4 games will be played at Goss Stadium, concluding the home portion of the schedule.

Corvallis claimed the first-half South Division championship and advanced to the West Coast League playoffs for the 17^th consecutive season. The postseason starts on Aug. 10; Corvallis will have the home-field advantage in the best-of-3 divisional round.

The Knights have added right-handed pitchers Jackson Walker of Yakima Valley CC, Russell Holly of Linn-Benton CC and Jack Klee of Chemeketa CC for the balance of the season. All three are scheduled to pitch against the CCL Showcase team.

Walker is a 6-foot-1, 175-pounder from Tahoma High School in Maple Valley, Wash. He will be a freshman at YVCC this fall.

Holly is a 6-foot, 208-pounder from Sweet Home High School in Sweet Home, Ore. He was 7-0, 1.30 with four saves and 30 strikeouts in 34 innings as an LBCC freshman in 2024, and earned second-team South Division all-star honors.

Klee is a 6-2, 170-pounder from Southridge High School. He will be a freshman at Chemeketa this fall.

In other team news, relief pitcher Bransen Kuehl (Utah) will miss the rest of the season with an injury and outfielder Hustyn Wheeler (Oregon State) has left the team to participate in the START program at OSU.

Kuehl was 1-1, 3.00 in 10 games, with four saves and seven strikeouts in 12 innings. Wheeler hit .167 in 21 games, with no homers and four RBIs.

Box score