Knights Open Postseason at Yakima Valley.

August 8, 2016

Corvallis Ace Cameron Bishop of UC Irvine to Start Game One of WCL South Divisional Series

Corvallis begins its postseason journey tomorrow at Yakima County Stadium as the Knights take on the Yakima Valley Pippins in the WCL South Divisional Series.

The best-of-three series moves to Goss Stadium on Wednesday, August 10 for game two; and game three, if necessary, is set for Thursday, August 11 at Goss. Both games are slated to start at 6:40 pm.

Corvallis skipper Brooke Knight has named southpaw Cameron Bishop of UC Irvine (pictured) to start game one vs. Yakima Valley. First pitch is set for 7:05 pm. You can listen to the game on KEJO 1240 AM. The voice of the Knights - Mike Parker - calls all the action.

Bishop was named the Top Prospect at the WCL All-Star Game by the MLB scouts in attendance and has posted an ERA of 1.45 while striking out 43 over 31 innings pitched this regular season.

Over his last 5 starts, the Knights have only scored 5 runs and have been shutout three times. The junior-to-be is 1-3 and has held opponents to a .167 batting average.

The Knights game two probable starter is lefty Aaron Pope of Dixie State. Pope is 4-2 with a 2.07 ERA.

Corvallis won 10 of its last 11 regular season games, which included a season-high 10-game win streak that was snapped at Cowlitz on the final day of the season.

The Knights finished 34-20 overall, won the first-half South title (18-9) and finished one game back of Yakima in the second half. Corvallis overall record is 41-20.

The team is led by a trio of Beavers and a bullpen that is arguably the best in the league.

Oregon State catcher Zak Taylor (.309), shortstop Andy Atwood (.308) and center fielder Kyle Nobach (.303) led the team in hitting posting the club's top three batting averages.

Atwood's 25 RBIs, 53 hits and 19 stolen bases in WCL play are team bests.

Nobach leads the Knights in runs scored with 34 and triples with 4 and his .391 on base percentage is a team high.

Nobach, Atwood and Taylor have also flashed leather playing steady and sometimes spectacular defense delivering strength up the middle.

Outfielder Cody Hawken of Portland and utility man Andrew Reichenbach of George Fox are both swinging hot bats coming into the postseason as they both went 8-for-18 in the final week of the regular season.

Third baseman Michael Farris of UC Riverside anchors the infield defense, as he sports an impressive .972 fielding percentage.

First baseman Roman Garcia has hit very well in the second-half. The senior-to-be at University of San Diego finished the regular season hitting .287 with 2 homers and 23 RBIs; and a team-high 10 doubles.

The aforementioned bullpen is led by southpaws Riley Widell, Trenton Dupre of Washington State, frosh Jacob Fricke of Western Oregon and closer Chase Kaplan; and right-handers Jacob Wong of Grand Canyon and Chris Burkholder of Dartmouth.

Widell, who pitched at Washington State this past spring, has been stellar both in starting and relief roles for the Knights. The sophomore-to-be at Central Arizona College is 3-1 with a 2.17 ERA and the Maui, Hawaii native has struck out 46 over 41.1 innings pitched.

Dupre, a senior-to-be at WSU, pitched in the WCL All-Star Game, as did Widell and Kaplan, and has posted a 0.64 ERA over 13 appearances and 28 innings pitched while going 3-0 with 4 saves.

Fricke is 5-0 with a 2.88 ERA and has only walked 6 over a team-high 50 innings pitched.

Kaplan leads the club in saves with 9. The junior-to-be at Kansas is 2-2 with a 2.80 ERA and has struck out 24 over 23.1 innings pitched.

Wong, a sophomore-to-be, is 3-2 with a save and 2.62 ERA. Burkholder earned WCL Pitcher of the Week honors for Aug. 1-7. The senior-to-be right-hander is 2-2 with a save and 1.57 ERA.

Frosh southpaw Hazahel Quijada of UC Riverside and redshirt sophomore righty Grant Goodman of San Francisco have also turned in special summers and will add depth to coach Knight's bullpen or be tabbed to start in the playoffs. Quijada is 3-0 with a 0.83 ERA over 7 starts and Goodman is 1-0 with a 2.01 ERA over 8 starts.

Head associate/pitching coach Connor Lambert's pitching staff posted a league-low team ERA of 2.65. Yakima was second best at 2.74.

Corvallis split its season series with Yakima Valley 3-3 with the Knights taking two of three at Yakima County Stadium and the Pippins taking 2 of 3 at Goss.

The Knights hit .259 as a team with 12 homers while the Pippins hit .267 with 5 home runs. Yakima Valley hit 21 more doubles and scored 32 more runs than Corvallis. But the Knights 113 stolen bases were second only to Walla Walla (116) and 13 more than the Pippins.

Yakima finished with a 32-22 record and won the second half with a 17-10 mark.

The Pippins are led by southpaw Zach Draper of College Idaho who led the WCL in wins with 8 and ERA at 0.73. He will start game one in Yakima. The Pippins will start Gavin Velasquez of Cal State Fullerton in game two at Goss Stadium. Valesquez led the league in innings pitched with 76.1 and went 7-2 with a 2.12 ERA.

Yakima Valley looks to senior-to-be shortstop Freddy Smith of Cal State Northridge for leadership. The scrappy infielder leads the Pippins in hitting with a .317 batting average, at bats with 180, doubles with 9 and stolen bases with 16.

If the Knights were to beat the Pippins and advance, game one of the best-of-three West Coast League Championship Series (WCLCS) is Saturday, August 13.

Bellingham and Victoria are matched up in the North Divisional Series, which starts tomorrow at Joe Martin Field in Bellingham.