Bellingham tips Corvallis 3-2, wins first WCL crown.
August 18, 2014
Catcher Logan Ice (pictured) had two hits and two RBIs, but the Bells prevailed before a boisterous crowd of 2,821 at Joe Martin Field.
A rising sophomore at Oregon State, Ice's two-out single in the fourth inning scored Dalton Kelly (UC Santa Barbara) and Marc Gallegos (Corban) with the only runs of the night for the Knights.
The top-seeded Bells (43-18) swept two home games after losing the series opener at Corvallis this past Friday. The Knights (43-21) were denied in their quest for a repeat title.
Bellingham jumped to a 3-0 lead in the third, aided by an error, a walk, a wild pitch and a balk. The Knights replied in the fourth with Ice's two-run single and that concluded the scoring. Bellingham's bullpen blanked the Knights over the final 5.1 innings for the second straight game.
Corvallis had the tying run at second base with one out in the ninth after a leadoff single by Ice and a sacrifice. However, closer David Bigelow induced groundouts from Joe Duffin (Cypress College/UConn in 2014-15) and Grant Melker (San Diego) to end the game.
Corvallis starter Chris Haddeland (Linfield) pitched into the seventh and gave up three runs in his second quality start of the playoffs. He struck out seven, but his balk, a walk and a wild pitch helped the Bells in the crucial three-run rally that determined the outcome.
The Knights had five hits and left eight runners on base. They stranded 19 overall and their No. 2 through No. 5 hitters were a combined 4-for-27 with no RBIs in the two games at Bellingham.
Ice had two hits and both RBIs and Gallegos added two hits and a run for the Knights.
The Knights are now 3-4 all-time in Championship Series. They defeated Walla Walla in 2011 and Wenatchee in 2008 and 2013, and lost to Moses Lake in 2007, Wenatchee in 2009 and 2012 and to Bellingham this summer.
