Wenatchee rallies to edge Knights 5-4, even series at 1-1

Saturday, July 16, Wenatchee, Wash. –Wenatchee edged Corvallis 5-4 at Paul Thomas Sr. Field to even their West Coast League series at a game apiece.

Corvallis reliever Nathan DeSchryver (Gonzaga) threw eight straight balls and walked the first two hitters in the bottom of the ninth. Duke Brotherton (Washington State) relieved and the winning run scored on an error on a hard-hit ball that eluded second baseman Mason Le (CSU-Northridge).

The AppleSox thus completed a comeback from a 4-0 deficit. Corvallis won 7-5 in 10 innings in Friday night’s series opener.

RBI singles by Temo Becerra (Stanford, pictured above) and Ely Kennel (Oregon State in 2023) put Corvallis ahead 2-0 in the second inning. The Knights added an unearned run in the fourth and Luca DiPaola (USC in 2023) had an RBI single for a 4-0 advantage in the fifth.

However, Wenatchee pulled even with two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth. There was no more scoring until the ninth.

Becerra tripled, singled, scored twice and drove in a run. Kennel had two hits and an RBI and Titus Dumitru (LBCC) had two hits and a run.

The series concludes at 5:05 p.m. Sunday. UCSB righty Matt Ager (0-1, 3.68) is the probable for Corvallis. The Knights (22-13 all, 22-12 WCL, 4-4 second half) are 4-4 on their ongoing 10-game road trip.

The Knights then conclude the 10-day road trip with a 2 p.m. makeup game at Portland on Monday. They open a three-game home series with Cowlitz at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday. It runs through Thursday and all three games start at 6:35.

Corvallis clinched its 15^th consecutive postseason berth on July 7 by winning the South Division’s first-half championship by two games over Ridgefield. The Knights will be the No. 1 seed in the South Division playoffs.

The playoffs begin on Aug. 9 with the best-of-3 opening round. Corvallis will open the home portion of the postseason with Game 2 on Aug. 10. If necessary, Game 3 will be at Goss Stadium on Aug. 11.

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