Knights Clinch in Klamath.

Corvallis Wins Sixth Consecutive West Division Title

The Corvallis Knights clinched first place in the WCL West with a 8-3 win at Kiger Stadium in Klamath Falls on Monday, August 6. With the victory, Corvallis won its sixth consecutive West Division title.

Corvallis has won the West title every year since the league went to East and West divisions in 2007. The Knights' six division titles are a league best. Wenatchee has won five division championships.

Corvallis clinched last year in Klamath too (on August 2nd). And like in 2011, pitcher Kyle Hart of Redlands again delivered an extraordinary performance in the Knights' clinching win tossing 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to finish off the Gems last night.

Corvallis is led by a pitching staff that features the WCL's lowest team ERA (2.69). Knights' right-hander Rob Dittrick, a senior-to-be at Pacific, has posted a league-low ERA of 1.10.

The starting staff is arguably the league's best and deepest as Trevor Frank (1-1, 0.61, 6 starts) of UC Riverside, Dylan Stuart (2-2, 3.45, 5 starts) of UC Riverside, Bryan Granger (3-2, 2.04, 7 starts) of Cal Poly, Jorge Perez (3-3, 2.55, 7 starts) of Grand Canyon, Max Beatty (2-1, 4.02, 7 starts) of PLU and AJ Burke (3-3, 2.92, 6 starts) of Western Oregon have turned in quality start after quality start.

Taylor Starr (0-3, 2.25, 3 saves) of OSU and Greg Mahle (2-1, 2.75, 2 saves) of UC Santa Barbara act as dual closers. Starr (pictured) closed for the Knights' 2008 WCL title team. Mahle tossed a no-hitter in his only start on Friday, August 3 vs. Cowlitz.

Offensively, the team has got hot late led by outfielder/first baseman Nick Torres of Cal Poly who is hitting .276 with 13 doubles and 22 RBIs.

Caleb Whalen of Portland leads the team in RBI with 27 and Mahle leads the club in hitting with a .336 batting average. Infielder Marc Gallegos of Corban is hitting .324 and leads the Knights in stolen bases with 21.

Corvallis opens the best-of-three WCL West Divisional Series at Klamath on Friday or at Cowlitz on Saturday. The Knights first home playoff game is Sunday, August 12 at 6:05 pm. If necessary, game three will be at Goss on Monday, August 13 (6:40 pm start time).