Thursday, July 25, Ridgefield, Wash. – The Knights completed an impressive sweep of Ridgefield with a 12-3 victory in the finale of their South Division West Coast League series.
Corvallis (37-10 overall, 32-10 WCL, 10-5 second half) scored six times in the fourth inning to break open a scoreless game and take an insurmountable lead. The series was split between the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Center and Goss Stadium; the Knights won the opener 7-5 on the road and Game 2 at home by an 8-6 count.
Starter Cohen Gonez (Stanford, pictured above) pitched into the seventh inning to earn his first victory of the summer. He allowed four hits and two runs, struck out three and did not issue a walk, throwing 51 strikes in 69 pitches.
The Knights had seven hits in their big six-run outburst. Brandon Cabrera (Lewis-Clark State) ignited the explosion with a three-run homer to open the scoring, his second of the summer.
Tyler Howard (Portland) added an RBI double, CJ Colyer (Pacific) had a sacrifice fly and Thomas Ferroggiaro (Santa Clara) closed the rally with an RBI single.
Kevin Takeuchi (USC) tacked on an RBI single in the fifth for a 7-1 advantage and had another RBI knock in a five-run ninth. He was 4-for-5 and now has an RBI in seven consecutive games; he has nine over that span and 38 overall, tied for the WCL lead.
Takeuchi also extended his hitting streak to six games in a row. He is 12-for-24 (.500) in that span, raising his average to .347.
Cabrera was 3-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs. Howard had two hits, two runs and an RBI.
The Knights open a key six-game WCL South Division homestand against the Portland Pickles on July 26-28 and the Walla Walla Sweets on July 29-31. The top promotion is Lil’ King Bobblehead Night against the Pickles at 6:35 p.m. on July 27.
The scheduled starting pitchers for the Knights vs. the Pickles are Tyner Horn (1-0, 1.52) of Nebraska on July 26; James DeCremer (0-0, 3.95) of Oregon State on July 27 and Payton Riske (2-1, 3.09) of Utah on July 28.
Corvallis has clinched the first-half South Division championship and will advance to the West Coast League playoffs for the 17th consecutive season. The postseason starts on Aug. 10.
In other team news, the Knights have added rising Central Washington University outfielder Ben Leid to the squad for the rest of the summer. He is a 6-foot-2, 200-pound Corvallis native who played at Crescent Valley High School.
Leid had a historic 2024 season at CWU, earning ABCA/Rawlings West Region first-team and NCBWA West Region first-team all-star honors. He was the GNAC Player of the Year and hit .425 with a .680 slugging percentage, a .490 on-base percentage, 41 runs, 77 hits, 13 doubles, three triples, nine home runs and 46 RBIs.
He hit .339 for the Wildcats in 2023, with three homers and 34 RBIs. He was a first-team GNAC all-star. Leid played two seasons at Wenatchee Valley College before transferring to CWU. He was a two-time 5A all-state catcher at Crescent Valley and played in the 2019 Oregon All-Star Series.
Also, pitcher Laif Palmer of Oregon State has been shut down for the summer. He was 0-1 with a 2.31 ERA in three appearances, with nine strikeouts in 11.2 innings.