Sunday, July 28, Corvallis, Ore. – The Portland Pickles snapped their 15-game losing streak to the Knights with an 9-0 win, salvaging the finale of their South Division West Coast League series before a Goss Stadium crowd of 1,431.
The Pickles last win in the series was 5-2 at Portland on July 4, 2022. The outcome enabled Portland (32-13 all, 15-5 second half) to draw within two games of the Knights (39-11 overall, 34-11 WCL, 12-6 second half) in the race for the WCL’s top overall record and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
The loss ended a five-game overall winning streak and a 12-game Goss Stadium winning streak. The Knights last loss at Goss was 2-0 to Cowlitz on June 26.
Portland scored four times in the first inning and three times in the third to take an insurmountable 7-0 lead. Corvallis only challenged once, loading the bases with two outs in the fifth, but a fly out ended the threat.
Shortstop Ty Yukumoto (Pacific, pictured above with associate head coach Ed Knaggs) was 3-for-4 to raise his average to .320. He was the only Knight with more than one hit.
Yukumoto has at least one hit in 18 of his last 21 WCL starts, with nine multi-hit games. He has raised his average from .246 to .320 in that span.
Corvallis hosts the Walla Walla Sweets on July 29-31, then wraps up the seven-game homestand with an Aug. 1 non-league encounter against the Cascade Collegiate League Showcase team.
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.