Trey Watt of PLU stifles Knights, Jackets whitewash Corvallis 3-0 to snap 22-game home win streak.
July 25, 2009
Outfielder Brent Warren (pictured) of Oregon State went 2-for-3 with a double.
On a hot summer night where tempers flared between two rivals, the Knights could not solve Kitsap starter Trey Watt of Pacific Lutheran University as the BlueJackets took game three of the series by whitewashing the Knights 3-0 before a Goss Stadium crowd of 868.
The loss snapped the Knights' 22-game home win streak.
Emotions between the two WCL West clubs stirred when Watt hit third baseman Billy Clontz of Western Oregon in the head during the bottom of the second.
Kitsap scored all the runs they would need in the fourth on a two-out, two-run single by Andrew Mistone of UC Riverside.
The Jackets tacked on another run in the fifth thanks to a couple errors by Clontz at third.
Things started to really heat up in the bottom of the seventh when Watt hit designated hitter DJ Johnson of Western Oregon in the back with a pitch.
The first pitch of the eighth inning from reliever Ben Guidos of UW hit Zach Jacob in the back setting off a brawl that started when Jacob charged the mound swinging wildly at Guidos.
The southpaw side-stepped the attempted punch and Jacob was hard by first baseman Taylor Ard. Both benches cleared and a short fracas ensued, but was quickly broke up by both head coaches.
Jacob and Ard were ejected.
"You can't ask a guy to hold back and stay at his position, which is what the book reads," said head coach Brooke Knight. "I have no problem with Taylor protecting Ben on the mound and doing what he needed to do to protect our pitcher on the mound. He didn't necessarily throw a punch, he tackled him and did what he had to do."
After things settled down, Watt continued his masterpiece and tossed a complete game shutout.
"Watt did a tremendous job again," Knight said. "He did the same thing to us up (in Silverdale, Wash.). We are in a little funk with the bat, we'll break out."
Oregon State's Brent Warren finished 2-for-3 at the plate.
Richie Jimenez, who is headed to UNLV this fall, went 2-for-4 night.
Corvallis' only other hit was collected by catcher Rocky Gale of UP, who also threw out a would-be base stealer out at second from his knees.
Kyle Kraus of University of Portland suffered his first loss of the season and struck out six in his six innings of work.
Guidos threw three innings of shutout ball in relief of Kraus.
The Knights look to even the series tomorrow at 1:05 pm. You can hear the game on KEJO 1240 AM. Mike Parker calls all the action.
With the rare home loss, Corvallis drops to 28-8 in league and 37-8 overall.
