Corvallis walks-off Raptors, win twin bill

Sunday, June 22, Corvallis, Ore. – The Knights walked off Ridgefield for the second time in three days to edge the Raptors 2-1, giving them a sweep of their South Division doubleheader at Goss Stadium.

Corvallis (12-8 all, 11-8 WCL) has now won six games in a row and 7 of its last 8 West Coast League games to solidify its hold on third place in the South Division.

Corvallis won the first game, 5-4. Both games were seven innings before a Strike Out Cancer Day crowd of 1,377.

The Knights also swept the series. They scored three times in the last of the ninth for a 7-6 victory in the June 20 opener.

In the nightcap, the Knights trailed 1-0 entering the home half of the seventh. Xavier Rios (CSUN) led off with a single and both runners were safe when the Raptors threw to second on Antonio Castro’s (Cal Poly) sacrifice bunt.

The next two batters were retired, but a two-strike infield hit by Thomas Ferroggario (Santa Clara) loaded the bases. Maverek Russell (UCLA) walked on four pitches to force in the tying run and Blake Wilson (Washington) walked on five pitches to send home the winning run.

Ferroggiaro was 3-for-3 in game two and had four hits in the doubleheader.

Corvallis starter Nate Stern (TCU) twirled five shutout innings, allowing five hits. The Raptors had at least one baserunner in every inning, but were stymied by five strikeouts as Stern escaped every jam unscathed.

He was the Washington Park Advisors Player of the Game.

In the opener, the Knights scored five times in the first inning and withstood a seventh-inning rally by the Raptors to post their fifth consecutive victory, 5-4.

Starter Trey Newman (Portland) fanned nine and spaced five hits in 3.1 innings, leaving with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning. Reliever Parker Warner (Stanford), making his Knights debut, induced an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play on his second pitch and then added a perfect fifth inning.

Michael Singleton (George Fox) added an inning each of scoreless relief. The Raptors had the tying run on base with two outs but reliever Tanner Douglas (Oregon State, pictured above), also in his first game with the club, picked him off to earn a save and Washington Park Advisors Player of the Game honors.

The Knights had five hits and five runs in a productive first inning. Kellen Segel (LBCC) drove in the first two runs with a bases-loaded double. Aiden Hazen (LBCC) then drilled a two-run single; a bases-loaded single by Brooks Avery (LBCC) capped the outburst.

Corvallis threatened several more times but could not add on. Second baseman Gavin Brubaker (NW Nazarene) went 0-for-3, snapping his 11-game hitting streak.

The Knights and the Marion Berries inaugurate WCL baseball in Salem on June 23 when the teams play a 6:35 p.m. game at Chemeketa Community College. The Knights starter is TBA; Portland lefty Logan Anderson (0-1, 5.14) gets the ball for the Berries.

The Knights then head to Yakima for a three-game set with the Pippins on June 24-26. Their next home games are June 27-29 vs. Cowlitz.

Game 1 box score

Game 2 box score