Saturday, June 4, Yakima, Wash. – The Corvallis Knights clinched their season-opening series at Yakima Valley with an 8-1 victory over the Pippins before a crowd of 808 at Yakima County Stadium.
The Knights (2-1, 2-0 WCL) broke the game open with a five-run third inning to take a 6-0 advantage. Starter Kaden Segel (pictured) authored five scoreless innings and Utah relievers Jaden Harris and Brady Maylett allowed just one run over the final four innings to bring the Knights home safely.
A rising sophomore at Linn-Benton Community College from Grant High School in Portland, Segel struck out seven and allowed three hits and just one walk in an efficient 76-pitch performance. He threw 51 strikes and faced just 19 batters, only four over the five-inning minimum.
Corvallis took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Mason Le (CSU Northridge). James Anderson (Montana State-Billings) had an RBI double in the big third inning and Le added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to conclude the scoring for the Knights.
Anderson, Spencer Scott (Portland), Ethan Loveless (Portland) and Kyle Casperson (Bushnell) all doubled for Corvallis. The Knights parlayed some suspect Pippin defense into five unearned runs.
Le drove in two runs; Loveless scored twice. Loveless also reached safely three times after being hit by pitches.
Corvallis won Friday’s opener 7-0 and thus won the rematch of the 2021 WCL Championship Series, won 2-1 by the Knights.
The series concludes at 6:05 p.m. Sunday. Returning right-hander Nathan DeSchryver (Gonzaga) gets the ball for the Knights, opposed by Spokane Falls CC righthander Daniel Charron.
The Knights are then idle until June 10, when they open a weekend series against the Portland Pickles at Walker Stadium in Portland.
Their WCL home opener is June 17 vs. Yakima Valley.