Corvallis beats Portland Stars 6-1 to extend home win streak to 18 before Thursday night Goss Stadium crowd of 1,325.
July 14, 2009
Two-way player Dylan Jones went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and struck out the side in the ninth.
Reliever Ben Guidos of University of Washington bailed the Knights out of trouble in the first inning as the southpaw wiggled out of a bases loaded jam and then went on to toss 6 2/3 innings, strikeout five and earn his fourth victory of the season.
"I felt good," Guidos said. "I was a little nervous I wasn't going to be loose in the bullpen, but I got enough pitches and we put together a few good innings."
After starter Eric Young of Riverside CC walked the first three hitters he faced, while throwing just one strike, head coach Brooke Knight pulled the Guidos lever and Ben not only got the Knights out of a tight situation, but went on to pitch masterfully and improve his record to 4-0.
"Guidos was going to throw tonight no matter what," said Knights' pitching coach Ryan Heil. "I had a feeling with Eric, that he wasn't feeling great, so we took a risk to see what we could get. Guidos went in and pounded the zone."
The Knights got on the board early as Dylan Jones plated Doug Cherry of UW, who had singled to lead-off the inning, on a double to left.
Jones then advanced to third on a single by Billy Clontz of Western Oregon and scored on an attempted double steal (Clontz was thrown out at second).
John Desmarais of Washington State drove in the Knights' third run with a RBI double.
"We've been fortunate (the offense) has been giving us a bit of a cushion and most of the games they're carrying us," Heil said. "On a night where we are short on pitching, after a road trip, an outing like that just saves our bullpen and saves our staff."
Corvallis scored two more in the fifth when after being hit by a pitch Oregon second baseman Josh Hogan scored on Jones' second double of the game.
After Jones stole third and Clontz grounded out, two Knights were hit by pitches, loading the bases for Brent Warren of OSU who walked with the bases loaded to collect a RBI.
Guidos overcame four Knights' errors while he was pitching and still tossed scoreless ball.
"That is uncharacteristic of us to put up a number like that in the error column," Guidos said. "We are going to score runs and it seems we score early every game. It is nice to pitch for an offense that puts up runs."
A fifth Corvallis error led to the Stars first run, an unearned run off Kyle Kraus of University of Portland.
Corvallis scored their sixth and final run in the eighth when Doug Cherry scored on a wild pitch.
Clontz and Jones both went 2-for-4 at the plate.
Jones tossed a scoreless ninth and struck out three Stars batters.
With the victory, the Knights' recorded their 30th win to improve their overall mark to 30-5. Corvallis has now won 27 of its last 29 games.
Corvallis heads to Bremerton to face division foe Kitsap on Friday night at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds.
You can catch the entire series on KEJO 1240 AM. Mike Parker calls all the action.
