Knights rally, but throw finale away. Sox beat Corvallis 6-4 in battle of Division leaders.
July 11, 2009
First baseman DJ Johnson (pictured), a junior-to be at Western Oregon, went 2-for-3 for the Knights.
The Knights battled hard, but could not sweep their long-time rival AppleSox at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium on a windy evening in Wenatchee.
But Corvallis did win the series by taking the first two games to capture its eighth WCL series of the season.
Wenatchee salvaged the finale 6-4 thanks to an uncharacteristic defensive let down by the Knights' infield.
The best defensive team in the West Coast League made consecutive two-out throwing errors in the bottom of the seventh allowing an AppleSox runner to score on each error to give Wenatchee the 6-4 lead after the Knights had rallied in the top of the frame to score 3 runs to tie the game 4-4.
Due to injuries, the Knights' defense in the 7th-inning featured pitcher Ben Guidos of University of Washington at first base and centerfielder Pat Colwell of San Diego State at third base.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Guidos was unable to scoop shortstop Richie Jimenez's low throw. The ball got away and the runners advanced an extra base and the batter reached safely and also advanced an extra base.
With runners now at second and third, Colwell fielded a ground ball by Kyle Johnson of WSU and threw wide, pulling Guidos off the bag, allowing the final Sox run to score.
Corvallis collected 12 hits and put pressure on the Sox throughout the game, but left 14 men on base.
The Knights never quit, loading the bases in the ninth, but did not score as John Demarais of Washington State struck out to end the game.
Corvallis also rallied in the seventh, down 4-1, DJ Gentile of Cal Poly delivered a two-run single. The Knights tied it scoring on a wild pitch, but Desmarais was retired with the bases loaded on a fly out to leftfield.
DJ Johnson went 2-for-3 to go 6-for-8 on the series.
Andrew Susac, a frosh-to be at OSU, slugged his second home run of the season.
West Coast League batting leader Jimenez collected two more hits.
Southpaw Liam Baron of Linn-Benton CC was the hard luck loser. Baron tossed 3 2/3 innings, allowed one hit, two runs and no earned runs while striking out 4.
Corvallis went 11-1 vs. WCL East teams. With the league's new unbalanced schedule, tonight's game at Wenatchee was the last time Corvallis will face a team from the East this regular season.
With the loss, Corvallis dropped to 27-5 overall and 21-5 in league.
The Knights are 6-2 on its first extended road trip.
The club's next stop is Arcata, California on Tuesday, July 14 as the Knights face the Humboldt Crabs in a two-game non-conference series.
You can listen to the Crabs' series on KEJO 1240 AM. Mike Parker is back calling all the action.
