Corvallis Announces 2009 Roster.

Knights Return 9 Players

The Corvallis Knights unveiled its 2009 roster following a busy off-season of recruiting that featured the signing of nine returning players including All-WCCBL junior second baseman Josh Hogan (pictured) of Oregon, All-WCCBL junior third baseman Doug Cherry of Washington, All-WCCBL junior utility man Billy Clontz of Western Oregon, All-WCCBL sophomore shortstop Richie Jimenez of Riverside CC, All-WCCBL sophomore pitcher Eddie Orozco of UC Riverside, junior outfielder Adam Melker of Cal Poly, sophomore first baseman D.J. Johnson of Mt. Hood CC, sophomore southpaw Liam Baron of Linn-Benton CC and junior reliever Geoff Nichols of Oregon.

"Coach Knight did an outstanding job retaining key players and signing new players," said team president Dan Segel. "Brooke has a few more irons in the fire, but it appears we have a solid team assembled as we look to defend our title next season.

"We expect Clontz, Cherry and Melker to emerge as team leaders. We know they are hungry players and won't tolerate anything less than max effort from the guys.

"Winning is fun and this group likes to have fun."

GM/Head Coach Brooke Knight is very pleased with this year's recruits. "We signed four rising stars from Oregon State and a few exciting arms from the Big West Conference that I believe fans will really enjoy watching this summer," said Knight.

This season's Beavers are freshmen Carter Bell (infielder), Brent Warren (outfielder), Sam Gaviglio (pitcher) and sophomore right-handed pitcher James Nygren.

Top pitching recruits were frosh Mason Radeke of Cal Poly, frosh Matt Andriese of UC Riverside, frosh Scott Lyman of UC Davis and sophomore Nick Hoover of UC Irvine.

The Knights infield retuns intact with Cherry, Jimenez, Hogan and Johnson. Carter Bell of OSU, junior shortstop Kyle Smith of Cal Poly and junior first baseman Trever Blood of Long Beach State will further strengthen the team's infield defense and add to the club's offensive firepower. Smith was All-Big West his freshmen year.

The outfield features returnees Clontz and Melker and junior outfielder Pat Colwell of San Diego State. Colwell started for the Aztecs as a sophomore. Exciting freshmen left-handed hitting outfielders Brent Warren of OSU and Erich Armstrong of Washington State will add great depth to the Corvallis outfield.

Scott Lyman of UC Davis can also play outfield and is expected to hit in the middle of the Aggies' order. Sophomore Dylan Jones of Mt. Hood CC can play outfield and first base. Jones will come out of the bullpen and give Coach Knight another left-handed bat off the bench.

Coach Knight once again loaded up on the arms. The staff is led by returnees Eddie Orozco of UCR, Geoff Nichols of Oregon and Liam Baron of LBCC. Baron has signed with Gonzaga for the 2010 spring season.

"We are deep, that's for sure," said Knight. "It was a strength for us last season (depth), and we found that it's healthy to have an abundance of arms."

Corvallis expects Nygren, Radeke, Andriese, Lyman, Hoover, sophomore Thomas Whitsett of UNLV, frosh Uriah Fisher of Oklahoma State and frosh Nick Struck of Mt. Hood CC to compete with the team's returning arms for starting spots in the rotation.

The bullpen should be strong with San Diego State junior right-handers Drew Leary and Tyler Lavigne, Gaviglio, Jones, sophomore Dustin Emmons of UC Riverside, frosh Kyle Kraus of University of Portland and sophomore Trevor Smith of Linn-Benton CC filling out the staff and also competing for starts.

The club is counting on sophomore catcher Matt Parker of San Diego State to provide leadership as the team's field general behind the dish.

Andrew Susac, a high school senior catcher from Southern California that has committed to Oregon State, has committed verbally to the Knights and would complement Parker nicely.