Corvallis edges Bellingham 3-2 on a rainy Saturday Night at Goss to capture the WCL series.
June 20, 2009
James Nygren (pictured) of Oregon State earned his first win as a Knight.
Three runs in the first inning were all James Nygren would need as the sophomore from Klamath Falls, Oregon outdueled Bellingham's Zack Fowler to record his first victory as a Corvallis Knight.
Nygren tossed a solid 7 1/3 innings allowing only 5 hits and 2 runs.
"The stuff's there and we have a lot of faith in James," said manager Brooke Knight. "Both of his starts he was at his best in the middle of the game."
The Knights staff has now turned in eight straight quality starts.
Corvallis got after Bellingham early jumping on Fowler for three runs. Doug Cherry of Washington led-off with a single to right. Fowler then issued back-to-back walks to Dylan Jones and Taylor Ard (both former Mt. Hood CC Saints), loading the bases for rightfielder Billy Clontz. The senior-to-be at Western Oregon singled home Cherry and Jones to give Corvallis the early 2-0 lead. Shortstop Carter Bell of OSU delivered the Knights third run with a fielder's choice groundout scoring Ard.
A pitchers duel followed with both starting pitchers working out of jams.
Bellingham scored in the 4th-inning when second baseman Patrick Claussen of WSU tripled off the wall in right-center and scored on a Nygren wild pitch.
"Fowler pitched a good game," Knight said. "Sometimes when it's raining everything slows down in the game of baseball."
The Bells clawed to within a run in the top of the eighth. Tanner Leighton led-off the frame with an infield single and advanced to second on a groundout. After a walk of Brady Locker, Nygren was replaced by reliever Liam Baron of Linn-Benton CC, who was able to get Claussen to groundout advancing the runners to second and third. An infield single by Chris Amezquita of UCLA plated Leighton, but Baron squelched the Bells' threat by striking out pinch-hitter Mike Chiarelli of OSU.
Coach Knight turned to Steve Kalush of Santa Clara to close things in the ninth. Kalush began the inning a little shaky walking Danny Hennigs to lead things off, but the junior right-hander responded like a seasoned closer retiring the next three batters, two by strikeout, to earn his first save with the Knights.
"It was nice getting out there for the second time," Kalush said. "I was trying to come in to do a job and keep the lead for us. I think they played great defense behind us all night."
Clontz went 1-for-4 with two RBI and extended his hit streak to five games.
Bell led the Knights at the plate going 2-for-4 with an RBI.
With the win, the Knights improved its overall record to 8-3 and league mark to 7-3.
Corvallis goes for the sweep Sunday vs. Bellingham. Game time is 5:05 pm.
You can listen to the game on KEJO 1240 AM. Mike Parker - the voice of the Knights - calls all the action.
