Sunday, July 13, Walla Walla, Wash. – The Knights completed a successful weekend in Walla Walla by crushing the Sweets 13-2 at Borleske Stadium to sweep the South Division series.
Blake Wilson (Washington) homered twice, doubled, scored three times and drove in three runs to pace a 13-hit attack. Trey Swygart (Portland) was also 3-for-4, with two runs and an RBI; he had five hits and five RBIs in the final two games of the series.
The Knights (28-11 all, 25-11 WCL, 8-1 second half) won for the 13th time in their last 14 West Coast League games. They outscored the Sweets 32-12 overall and 23-5 in the final two games.
Brock Ketelsen (Stanford) had a two-run double to highlight a 7-run second inning that sent the Knights ahead for good. Wilson hit solo homers leading off the fifth and eighth innings, his second and third of the summer, tying him with Joshua Proctor (Oregon State) for the team lead.
Ketelsen was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs and Ian Fernandez (UCSB) was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs.
Winning pitcher Zach Johnson (Linfield) continued his strong pitching and got the win. He allowed two runs and four hits in five innings, with five strikeouts.
Luke Kalfsbeek (Cal Poly) struck out four in two innings and Landen Parker (NW Nazarene) and Parker Warner (Stanford) each added scoreless frames. Corvallis’s bullpen did not allow a run in the final four innings of Game 2 and Game 3 of the series.
The Knights returned to Corvallis after the game and are idle on July 14. Their next game is a July 15 non-conference matchup with the Corvallis Gerding Construction American Legion team, presented by AAA.
Corvallis is now just three games behind Portland in the race for the league’s best overall record. It leads the Pickles by one game in the second-half South Division pennant race. Portland won the first half; the winners of each half receive an automatic playoff berth.
The WCL All-Star Game at Bellingham follows on July 16. Infielder Mason Riske (USC), pitcher J’Shawn Unger (Iowa Western CC), center fielder Brock Ketelsen (Stanford) and catcher Xavier Rios (CSUN) will represent the Knights on the South Division squad.
Also, the Knights had two alums selected in the first three rounds of the 2023 MLB Draft.
Tyler Bremner (2023), a right-handed pitcher from UC Santa Barbara, was selected as the No. 2 overall pick by the Los Angeles Angels.
He was 0-0, 1.80 in three appearances for the Knight, with seven strikeouts in five innings before returning to his hometown of San Diego earlier than anticipated because of a family matter. He was an All-American at UCSB this season.
Infielder Ethan Hedges of USC, a teammate of Bremner’s on the 2023 WCL champions, went to Colorado in the third round with the 77th overall pick. He was first-team all-league after hitting .287, with two homers, 34 RBIs and 17 steals.