Thursday, July 3, Corvallis, Ore. – The fireworks started early on the Knights annual Fireworks Night at Goss Stadium, and didn’t stop until the show was over.
Shortstop Blake Wilson (Washington, pictured above) thrilled an SRO crowd of 3,225 by blasting a first-inning grand slam, keying a 6-run outburst that ignited what became a 15-1 non-league victory over the Northwest Star Nighthawks.
Wilson’s blast easily cleared the left-field fence and gave the Knights a 5-0 lead before an out was recorded. He added an RBI single in the second and finished the night 2-for-3 with five RBIs, garnering him Washington Park Advisors Player of the Game honors.
It was the seventh win in a row for the Knights (20-10 all, 17-10 WCL) against all competition.
Second baseman Thomas Ferroggiaro (Santa Clara) was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs. Outfielder Kellen Segel (LBCC) tripled, singled, went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI and pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
Incoming Oregon State freshman Tyler Bellerose made his season debut and struck out five of the seven Nighthawks he faced in his first start in his future home diamond. He threw 21 strikes on 34 pitches.
Relievers Zach Johnson (Linfield), Easton Jones (Utah), Landen Parker (NW Nazarene), Chance Wallace (Pacific), Gavin Brubaker (NW Nazarene) and Segel all threw one scoreless inning of relief. Brubaker struck out the side on 13 pitches and was credited with the decision as the most effective reliever.
Corvallis begins the second half of the West Coast League season on July 4-6 with a home series against the Bend Elks. Starters for the 6:35 p.m. July 4 opener are Reagan Rivera of Coppin State (0-1, 0.00) for the Elks vs. J’Shawn Unger of Iowa Western CC (2-0, 4.11) for the Knights.
On July 5, Michigan’s Erik Puodziunas (3-0, 2.07) goes for Bend, opposed by Portland’s Trey Newmann (1-0, 8.40); game time is 6:35 p.m. The starters for the 5:05 p.m. July 6 finale are John-Paul Sauer of Tulane (3-1, 2.45) for Bend and Zach Johnson of Linfield (1-1, 4.00) for Corvallis.
Corvallis then heads to South Division foe Ridgefield on July 8-10; the road trip concludes at Walla Walla on July 11-13. Corvallis swept a three-game series from Ridgefield at Goss Stadium on June 20-22; all the wins were by one run and two were walk-offs.
The Knights lost pitcher Sam Coffman on July 2 as the right-hander, an incoming junior at Metropolitan State in his native Denver, was shut down for the summer. He pitched five scoreless innings on July 1 in a win over Gunderson Baseball.
Overall Coffman was 2-2, 5.30 in six games, with 20 strikeouts in 18.2 innings. He started four times.