Knights head to Bend

The cavalry is on the way. Our depleted roster will be augmented somewhat for this weekend's series at Bend as more of our players begin to arrive for the summer.

New on the scene are Seattle University infielder Nate Roberts, who played with the Moses Lake Pirates last summer and led the WCL with 35 RBIs, and Oregon pitcher Jimmie Sherfy and outfielder Connor Hofmann.

Our players from Cal Poly, UC Riverside and Santa Clara players should be in town in time for next week's homestand against the Bucks of WCL Portland, and the Bellingham Bells.

And we'll be stronger yet when the Beavers and top arms Ben Wetzler, Scott Schultz, Adam Duke and Tom Zarosinski come aboard.

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Remember, no radio for tonight's 6:35 p.m. game at Bend. Saturday (6:35 p.m.) and Sunday (5:05 p.m.) we're on KLOO-AM 1340, with Jason Schwartz on the mic.

Medal of Honor recipient Bob Maxwell will throw out the first pitch tonight as the Elks honor the "greatest generation" of World War II veterans.

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Speaking of Adam Duke, here's a story from the Oregonian on the highly-regarded OSU freshman.

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OSU junior right-handed pitcher Sam Gaviglio, a former Knight (2009) dded to his long list of honors this season on Friday when he was announced as one of 10 semifinalists for National Pitcher of the Year by the College Baseball Hall Of Fame.

He is one of two Pac-10 pitchers (the other is UCLA's Trevor Bauer) to make the list and one of seven playing in this weekend's NCAA Super Regionals. Vanderbilt, whom OSU will take on beginning tonight in Nashville, also has a pitcher on the list, left-hander Grayson Garvin.

Gaviglio, who is 12-2 this season, tying for the fourth-most wins in a single-season at OSU, has already been named a first-team Pac-10 all-star and a second-team Louisville Slugger All-American. He was the Most Outstanding Player at last weekend's Corvallis Regional.

He's also a two-time Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honoree; earned Golden Spikes Spotlight recognition on March 21 and was one of 30 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award.

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Former Knights infielder Robby Hudson (2003, 2004) was released by Tucson of the PCL earlier this week. He never played in Corvallis, but he's one of the all-time great Knights, and was a mainstay of championship teams with the Knights and at the University of Texas.

Best of wishes to Robby, who works at the University of Texas in the athletic academic support depeartment.

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That's all for today.

Productive draft for WCL

It was a productive Major League Baseball draft for the Corvallis Knights and the West Coast League. Seventeen players with connections to the Knights and 38 former WCL players overall were selected earlier this week and the WCL clearly solidified its position as an emerging summer league powerhouse.

Two WCL alums were taken in the first round: Ex-Knights pitcher Tyler Anderson (2009) of Oregon, to Colorado as the 20th overall selection, and ex-Wenatchee pitcher Jeff Ames of Lower Columbia Community College, to Tampa Bay as the 42nd overall pick in the supplemental round. The nine-team WCL also outperformed the Northwoods League, which has 16 franchises.

* Four WCL alums went in the first three rounds, compared to one from the Northwoods League.

* Twelve WCL alums went in the first 10 rounds, compared to 15 from the Northwoods League, which has almost twice as many players.

Here's a list of WCL players drafted from the league website.

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Remember, no game tonight. It's been rescheduled as part of a July 28 doubleheader.

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We drew 1,724 fans to our first, short homestand. We always hope to do better, but that's a solid turnout, considering the weather and the fact that both games were on school nights.

Our goal this year is 36,000 fans; we drew 31,009 last year. After two games were 236 fans ahead of last year's pace, a trend we hope continues as the season wears on.

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We're off to Bend this weekend. We';ve been bumped off of KEJO, our normal home, due to conflicts with Oregon State's Super Regional at Vanderbilt so there's a change in our radio lineup.

Friday's game is Internet only; the link can be found on the Knights homepage. Saturday's games are on KLOO-AM 1340.

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It's possible we could lose 2011 Knights Dayton Alexander, Jace Fry, Michael Blake and Nic Cuckovich to professional baseball. They were drafted by Oakland (first two), Arizona and Kansas City, respectively, earlier this week.

Here's a story on Alexander's selection from The Maui News newspaper.

And here's a story on Fry's selection, from The Oregonian.

Draft bonanza for the Knights

Seventeen players with ties to the Knights were selected in the MLB draft, including the Knights initial first-round selection, Oregon lefty Tyler Anderson (2009), chosen by Colorado.

Others drafted with Knights connections were Oregon State catcher Andrew Susac (2, San Francisco, 2009); UC Riverside pitcher Matt Andriese (3, San Diego, 2009); OSU pitcher Sam Gaviglio (5, St. Louis, 2009); Feather River outfielder Dayton Alexander (6, Oakland, 2011); OSU pitcher Josh Osich (6, San Francisco, 2008), and UC Davis outfielder/pitcher Scott Lyman (10, Florida, 2010). Also, Lee University infielder Dean Green (11, Detroit, 2008); Southridge High/future OSU pitcher Jace Fry (9, Oakland, 2011); Hawaii outfielder/pitcher Michael Blake (16, Arizona, 2010); UC Riverside infielder Nic Cuckovich (17, Kansas City, 2011); Washington State infielder Taylor Ard (25, Boston, 2009); OSU infielder Carter Bell (29, Arizona, 2009); OSU pitcher James Nygren (33, Florida, 2009); OSU pitcher Taylor Starr (37, Cleveland, 2008); UC Riverside pitcher Dustin Emmons (38, Mets, 2009, 2010), and WSU infielder Cory Bartlett (41, Toronto, 2007).

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Oregon State's tremendous baseball season will impact the radio broascast of our weekend games at Bend, since OSU's games at Vanderbilt trump us on our customary station, KEJO 1240 AM.

So, our Friday night game will be Internet only, and available at our website. Saturday and Sunday's games will be on KLOO-AM 1340.

Jason Schwartz, a familiar voice to Knights' fans, will continue to pinch-hit for Mike Parker.

Ex-Knights drafted

We keep bragging about the talent the Corvallis Knights try to sign every year, and about the high quality of West Coast League baseball.

And every year our point is proven.

Former Knights pitcher Tyler Anderson (2009) of Oregon was selected in the first round by Colorado on Monday, as the 20th overall pick. He's the first former Knight to be taken in the first round.

On Tuesday, ex-Knights catcher Andrew Susac of Oregon State went in the second round to the San Francisco Giants as the 86th pick; former Knights pitcher Matt Andriese of UC Riverside was taken in the third round by the San Diego Padres at No. 112, and ex-Knights pitcher Sam Gaviglio went to the St. Louis Cardinals in the fifth round at No. 170.

Andriese, Gaviglio and Susac were teammates on our 2009 club.

Ex-Knights pitcher Josh Osich (2008) was drafted by the Giants in the sixth round, as the 207th pick. He was our winning pitcher in the 2008 WCL championship game against Wenatchee.

Infielder Carter Bell (2009 team) went in the 29th round to Arizona.

Current Knight Dayton Alexander was taken by Oakland in the sixth round. Current Knight of Hawaii went in the 16th round to Arizona.

Former Knight Scott Lyman (2010) of UC Davis went to Florida in the 10th round. And former Knight Dean Green of Lee (Fla.) University went to Detroit in the 11th round.

We'll keep you updated as the draft concludes on Wednesday.

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Nice preview on tonight's home opener in today's Corvallis Gazette-Times.

My former employer will be providing coverage of the Knights throughout the year.

Knights sign Fry; home opener on Tuesday

The Knights have signed left-handed pitcher Jace Fry of Southridge High School, an Oregon State signee who led the Skyhawks to the No. 1 ranking in Class 6A for much of the spring.

Fry was 10-0 with a 1.42 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 52 innings during the regular season. He was the Metro League Pitcher of the Year and has been selected to play in the Reser's All-Star Series, set for June 18-19 at Goss Stadium.

He will be the fifth pitcher with OSU ties to play for the Knights this season. He joins freshmen Ben Wetzler, Scott Schultz, Adam Duke and Tom Zarosinski on the roster.

Fry will be in the lineup on Tuesday, when Delaware starter Eric Young is the Knights' scheduled starfer.

"He stikes me as a real competitor and a real student of the game," Knights pitching coach Connor Lambert said Monday. "He's a smart guy and knows what he wants to do.

"He didn't throw as many strikes as we wanted him to and got a few guys out on full counts" in a one-inning save on Saturday when he walked the first two batters starting the ninth, Lambert added. "We talked about the mental battle and to not to fight himself.

"I expect big things. He's an older guy, he knows how to pitch and I expect hinm to go right after guys."

The Knights allowed six runs in one inning of Friday's night's 8-0 loss, but otherwise the Sweets scored just six runs in the other 25 innings. Satdurday's starter, Max Beatty, struck out seven, didn't walk a batter over eight innings and allowed only three hits and one run.

"I was really happy with how we pitched overall," Lambert said. "The first game we weren't pounding strike zone with strike one.

"Max proved if you can get ahead of hitters, especially early, you can have a lot of success. Our guys battled well."

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It's finally here ... almost.

Our fifth home opener at Goss Stadium is set for 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, against the expansion Klamath Falls Gems.

Opening night is always special, and we're hoping to smash our all-time home-opener attendance record of 822, set last year against the Bend Elks. The weather forecast is decent, so make sure you come out and help us pack the house!

Big weekend for former/future Knights from Oregon State at the NCAA Corvallis Regional.

* Sam Gaviglio (2009) pitched a complete game against Creighton and earned regional MVP honors.

* Scott Schultz (2011) and Adam Duke (2011) shone in relief in the regional-clinching win over Georgia on Sunday night.

* Pitchers James Nygren (2009) and Matt Boyd (2010) had solid performances against Arkansas-Little Rick.

* And catcher Andrew Susac <2009) and infielder Carter Bell made the all-tournament team.

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Knights veteran Nick Hoover (2009-11) of UC Irvine pitched two scoreless innings in a 4-3 win over UCLA on Sunday in the championship game of the UCLA Regional. The Anteaters now travel to No. 1 Virginia in the Suyper Regionals.

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Catcher Corey Davis of Wright State was a combined 1-for-6 in losses to Texas A&M and Arizona at the A&M Regional. Davis finished the season hitting .312, with eight homers and 40 RBIs.

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Opening-weekend attendance from around the WCL was strong, especially considering the miserable spring weather we had up until this past weekend.

Here are the numbers:

WALLA WALLA: 4,708 total; 1,569 average.

WENATCHEE: 3,607 total; 1,202 average.

KLAMATH FALLS: 3,354 total; 1,118 average.

BELLINGHAM: : 1,046 for two games (game 3 not available); 523 average.

Finally, it's opening night!

The countdown - which started at 144 days on Jan. 10, my first day with the Knights - has finally reached zero.

We open season No. 5 in Corvallis tonight at Walla Walla in a 7 p.m. game at Borleske Stadium, which should be full, seeing as how the Sweets led the West Coast League in attendance in 2010 as a first-year expansion team.

We won't have our complete roster for the series, which continues at 7 p.m. Saturday and at 6 p.m. Sunday. But fourth-year Corvallis coach Brooke Knight expects a full effort from our 21-man roster during the first weekend of West Coast League action.

"Walla Walla has some of its projected regulars missing too, so we can't use a short roster as an excuse," said Knight, who has guided the Knights to three consecutive West Division regular-season championships. "We'll hustle, we'll scrap, and we'll battle on every pitch."

George Fox junior right-hander Brian Ranta (8-2, 2.40) is our starting pitcher tonight, opposed by righty Bryan Richardson of Campbellsville University. A 10-day signee, Ranta was a Northwest Conference all-star.

Knight' returnee Max Beatty of Pacific Lutheran (5-4, 3.75) will start Saturday's game, opposed by lefty Brett Watson of Walla Walla Community College.

Portland sophomore Chris Johnson (3-5, 3.67) will start Sunday's finale, opposed by righty Trent Allianic of Hawaii.

Our top offensive threats at the moment are freshman outfielder Nate Blackham, who hit .400 as a part-time starter at Washington State; catcher Jaret Bogue of Feather River College, the Golden Valley Conference Player of the Year (.437, 4-49), and returning middle infielder J.K. Dykes of WSU, who redshirted this spring after hitting .300 for the Knights in 2010.

"We have some real team speed, which is really exciting," Knight said, noting that Blackham and Pacific Lutheran infielder Corey Moore can fly. "And our outfielders should be able to chase everything down."

The Knights' home opener at Goss Stadium is set for 6:40 p.m. Tuesday against Klamath Falls. Delaware junior Eric Young (5-2, 4.00), a three-year Knight, is the projected starting pitcher.

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Here's Walla Walla's perspective on the opener, from the Sweets' website.

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There's a great story about Philomath High School senior Justin Sloan in Friday's editions of the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Justin's working for us this summer, as the master of the "K Counter" scoreboard that will keep track of our pitcher's strikeouts, and in other booster-related capacities during our games.

We can attest, he does have the "heart of a Warrior," and he'll have a "heart of a Knight" by the end of the summer too!

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OSU gymnastics star Leslie Mak, one of our OSU College of Business interns, was honored as the OSU co-Female Athlete of the Year on Thurday at the annual Bennys awards show.

Congrats!

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Elsewhere in the WCL tonight, Kitsap visits Wenatchee, Bend visits Klamath Falls and Kelowna visits Bellingham in other season-openers. Cowlitz is idle. Complete results can be found at the West Coast League website's Scoreboard page.

Here's some news about those openers from around the WCL:

BEND: The Elks travel to Klamath Falls for the first game in Gems' history.

And here's another story on the Gems' debut from the Klamath Falls Herald and News newspaper.

BELLINGHAM: The Bells start new with new ownership and a new coach, reports the Bellingham Herald newspaper.

COWLITZ: The Black Bears plan plenty of promotions for their second season, reports the Longview Daily News.

KELOWNA: A new season brings new prospects for the Falcons, according to the Kelowna Daily Courrier newspaper.

WENATCHEE: The AppleSox could lose two players in next week's MLB draft, according to The Wenatchee World newspaper.

Wenatchee plays Kitsap in its opener and that's a tough draw for the BlueJackets, according to The Kitsap Sun newspaper.

Wenatchee has an especially tall pitching staff this season, according to The Wenatchee World,, which also has this feature on WCL president/Mariners' radio broadcaster Ken Wilson.

And finally, here's a rundown of the Wenatchee roster, again from the Wenatchee World.

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That's plenty of reading for today. Have a great weekend and we'll see you at the ballpark on Tuesday!

More honors for Gaviglio, Kraus

The honors for our former Knights keep rolling in.

Oregon State junior pitcher Sam Gaviglio, a 2009 Corvallis Knight, was named a second-team Louisville Slugger All-American on Thursday, the eve of his start against Arkansas-Little Rock in the NCAA Corvallis Regional at Goss Stadium.

It is the second big award this week for Gaviglio, who was named a Pacific-10 Conference all-star on Tuesday. He was 11-2 with a 1.95 ERA this spring and had a 41.2-inning scoreless streak early in the season.

He was a Freshman All-American in 2009, when he went 10-1.

Portland junior pitcher Kyle Kraus, a 2009 and 2010 West Coast League all-star with the Knights, was named a West Coast Conference all-star on Wednesday.

A unanimous first-team WCC all-star in 2010, Kraus was 6-5, 4.12 overall and 4-1, 2.74 ERA in his last five starts after fully recovering from a strained oblique muscle. He struck out 26 and walked just two in that span. Congrats to Sam and Kyle.

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Opening night is Friday at Borleske Stadium in Walla Walla against the second-year Sweets. George Fox junior Brian Ranta is our projected starting pitcher.

Walla Walla led the league in attendance in 2010 and there's already lots of interest in the season. The Sweets held their media day on Wednesday at the ballpark.

And like the Knights, the Sweets have a number of players in the NCAA tournament and not available for their early-season games.

But, the weather's supposed to be sunny and warm so the games will go on. And although we won't have our entire team yet, manager Brooke Knight expects the Knights to be very competitive and he's confident we'll get off to a quick start.

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Lots of news from around the WCL on the verge of opening night. Other openers have Kitsap at Wenatchee, Kelowna at Bellingham and Bend at Klamath Falls in the first game in WCL history for the expansion Bells.

Here are updated stories from around the league:

COWLITZ: The Black Bears have better players from 2010, an expansion year, and they expect to be better, reports coach Bryson LeBlanc in this story from the Longview Daily News.

And here's another story on the Black Bears from the Valley Bugler newspaper.

KITSAP: BlueJackets coach Matt Acker thinks character first when building the team, according to the Kitsap Sun newspaper.

And the BlueJackets are high on local product Colin Feldtman of Bainbridge Island, according to another Kitsap Sun story.

KELOWNA: The Falcons will be built on pitching and speed this season, according to this story in the Kelowna Capital News newspaper.

WENATCHEE: The two-time defending-champion AppleSox are the model for a successful franchise, according to this story in the Wenatchee World newspaper.

And here's another story on the AppleSox from NCW.com.

Big West honors Dylan Stuart

We have more honors to report for our 2011 Corvallis Knights.

UC Riverside lefty Dylan Stuart was named the Big West Conference's Freshman of the Year after a outstanding debut season with the Highlanders.

Stuart was 1-1 in 18 games, with a 1.72 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 31.1 innings. His outstanding pickoff move also drew raves around the league; he had an amazing six pickoffs and opponents stole just four bases in nine attempts when he was pitching.

Teammate and fellow 2011 Knights outfielder David Andriese (.307, 4-30) earned BWC all-conference honorable mention, as did former Knights pitchers Matt Andriese (2009) and Eddie Orozco (2008, 2009) of UC Riverside, and shortstop Matt Duffy (2010) of Long Beach State.

Congrats, guys.

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Only two more days until our season-opener against the Walla Walla Sweets at Borleske Stadium in Walla Walla. Our team will assemble in Portland and the bus heads out for Walla Walla on Friday.

There's a nice preview story about the upcoming season in today's Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Our starting rotation for the opener is George Fox junior righthander Brian Ranta 8-2, 2.40) for Friday's 7 p.m. opener; Pacific Lutheran sophomore righty Max Beatty (5-4, 3.75) for Saturday's 7 p.m. game, and Portland sophomore righty Chris Johnson (3-5, 3.67) for Sunday's 6 p.m. finale.

The Sweets will counter with Campbellsville University righty Bryan Richardson on Friday; Walla Walla CC lefty Brett Watson on Saturday and Hawaii righty Trent Allianic on Sunday.

Remember, due to a conflict with Oregon State's NCAA Regional games, Friday's game will be broadcast on KLOO-AM (1340) and Saturday and Sunday's games will be on KTHH-AM (990).

For our out-of-town fans, all Knights games are also available online through Teamline for free.

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Another honor to report: Former Knights catcher Bo Altobelli (2010), a Texas Tech sophomore, was an honorable mention Big 12 Conference all-star. Altobelli hit .333 (44-132) in 48 games, with a homer and 24 RBIs.

Three days and counting

We're down to three days and counting before our Friday night opener at Borleske Stadium in Walla Walla against the second-year Sweets. The weather looks great; 73 degrees on Friday, 81 on Saturday, 84 on Sunday, lots of sun.

Oregon State's NCAA regional games will be on KEJO-AM 1240, our home station, so our games will be broadcast on KLOO-AM 1340 (Friday), and KTHH (990 AM) on Saturday and Sunday.

And it's only seven days, one week, until our June 7 home opener against Klamath Falls at Goss Stadium. We'll be back on KEJO by then and last year's No. 2 broadcaster, Jason Schwartz, makes an encore appearance to handle the play-by-play as he preps for his summer gig with the Tri-City Dust Devils of the Northwest League.

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Big news from the Pacific-10 Conference on Tuesday concerning some former Corvallis Knights with the Beavers and with coach Pat Casey, who played a huge role in our decision to relocate to Corvallis from Gresham for the 2007 season.

First, Casey was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year for guiding the Beavers to a tie for second place and into the NCAA tournament for the sixth time in the last seven years. It's the third time in the last seven seasons that he's won that award.

Former Knights pitcher Sam Gaviglio (2009) was a first-team Pac-10 all-star. Ex-Knights Carter Bell, Matt Boyd, Josh Osich and Andrew Susac earned honorable mention; Osich played for the Knights in 2008, Susac and Bell in 2009, and Boyd in 2010.

Gaviglio was also selected as one of the 30 finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, college baseball's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. He's 11-2 with a 1.95 ERA in 15 starts, with 102 strikeouts.

Former Knights pitcher Tyler Anderson of Oregon (2009) and infielder Taylor Ard of Washington State were also first-team all-stars.

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All of our Division I players except Oregon State's Ben Wetzler, Scott Schultz and Adam Duke, UC Irvine's Nick Hoover and Sebastian Santos, and Wright State's Corey Davis have completed their college seasons.

Here are the updated stats for those Beavers, Anteaters and Davis, and the final regular-season stats for everyone else:

OREGON STATE: Pitcher Scott Schultz is 3-0, 2.82 in 44.2 innings over 18 games. Pitcher Ben Wetzler is 6-3, 4.66 in 63.2 innings over 16 games, with 45 strikeouts. Pitcher Adam Duke is 0-0, 8.10 in 3.1 innings over four games. Pitcher Tom Zarosinski hasn't played yet.

OREGON: Outfielder Connor Hofmann hit .212 (7-33) with four RBIs in 23 games. Pitcher Jimmie Sherfy was 0-0, 33.75 in 1.1 innings in two appearances.

CAL POLY: Outfielder Jimmy Allen hit .261 (31-119) in 43 games, with no homers and 15 RBIs. Infielder David Armendariz hit .161 (10-62) with a homer and four RBIs in 27 games. Pitcher Chase Johnson was 2-5, 3.67 in 18 games, with 34 strikeouts in 49 innings.

DELAWARE: Pitcher Eric Young was 5-2, 4.00 in 13 games, with 40 strikeouts in 72 innings.

HAWAII: Outfielder Michael Blake hit .241 (32-133) in 46 games, with no homers and 23 RBIs. He was 0-0, 3.24 in 8.1 innings in 10 games as a situational reliever.

SANTA CLARA: Pitcher Chris Mendoza was 3-6, 5.62 in 57.2 innings over 20 games, with 18 strikeouts.

SAN DIEGO STATE: Pitcher Justin Hepner was 0-0, 9.95 in 6.1 innings over five appearances.

SEATTLE: Infielder Nate Roberts hit .172 (15-87) with a homer and eight RBIs in 30 games. He was sidelined with a wrist injury but should be ready to go for the Knights' opening night.

UC IRVINE: Pitcher Nick Hoover is 2-4, 3.69 in 32.2 innings over 20 games, with 21 strikeouts. Pitcher Sebastian Santos threw a scoreless inning in his lone appearance.

UC RIVERSIDE: Outfielder David Andriese hit .307 (55-179) in 50 games, with four homers and 30 RBIs. Pitcher Dylan Stuart was 1-1, 1.72 in 31.1 innings over 18 games, with 29 strikeouts. Reliever Mitch Patito was 1-3, 5.75 in 19 games, with six saves and 24 strikeouts in 20.1 innings.

PORTLAND: Pitcher Chris Johnson , our projected Sunday starter at Walla Walla, was 3-5, 3.56 in 14 games, with 58 strikeouts in 83.1 innings. Outfielder Kramer Scott hit .299 (47-157), with a homer and 19 RBIs in 50 games.

WRIGHT STATE: Catcher Corey Davis is hitting .317 (58-183) in 49 games, with eight homers and 40 RBIs.

WASHINGTON STATE: Outfielder Nate Blackham hit .400 (26-65) with five RBIs in 34 games. Infielder J.K. Dykes redshirted.

Holiday edition of the Blog

Yes, it's a special Memorial Day Holiday Issue of the Blog, where we clean out the notebook a little bit just so we won't be rusty and overloaded with stuff when we return to work full-time on Tuesday.

It's game week, Knights fans. It's only four more days until our June 3 opener at Walla Walla, and just eight more days until our June 7 opener at Goss Stadium against the Klamath Falls Gems.

So get your tickets and merchandise now, so you're not left out in the cold on opening night.

The Sweets started practice on Sunday at Borleske Stadium; the Knights, bolstered by several 10-day signees, will assemble in Portland on Friday and head up for the opener.

All of our full-time players won't be in Corvallis until the June 16-18 homestand, but coach Brooke Knight promises we'll be competitive in Walla Walla no matter who we put on the field.

Since the Beavers are still playing and will control KEJO 1240, our radio plans for the first weekend are still up in the air but we'll know more on Tuesday and will keep you informed.

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Former Knight Dean Green of Barry University in Miani Shortes, Fla., a standout on our 2008 West Coast League championship team, was named a Division II All-American after a standout senior season. Here are the details from the Barry University website.

Congrats to a great Knight.

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Mt. Hood Community College pitcher and 2011 Knight Matt Petchmann pitched a complete-game 3-hitter on Sunday to lead the Saints to a 2-1 elimination-game victory over Lane CC at NWAACC tlournament at Longview, Wash.

He struck out 11, walked one, and faced just 32 batters. Mt. Hood was to play Lower Columbia on Monday in another elimination game; the winner would then play Bellevue CC for the championship.

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Former Knights first baseman D.J. Johnson (2008, 2009) has been released by the Tampa Bay Rays. A pitcher in their organization, he was 0-0, 2.05 in 14 games for the Gulf Coast Rays in the Gulf Coast (Rookie) League in 2010, but had not pitched this year.

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Ex-Knights Eddie Orozco of UC Riverside and Scott Lyman of UC Davis were nominated for Big West Pitcher and Player of the Week honors for May 23-29, but did not win.