Knights win West Division Series, advance to WCCBL Championship Series vs. Moses Lake.

Corvallis rallied to beat Kitsap 4-3 on Jim Murphy's (pictured) dramatic game-winning two-run homer. On the brink of elimination, down 3-2 with one out in the bottom of the eighth, up stepped Knights' slugger Jim Murphy of WSU with Josh Hogan of Mt. Hood CC at second base. Facing Murph was his Cougar teammate and 2006 WCCBL Pitcher of the Year Ross Humes of the BlueJackets.

Murphy had doubled and singled in three previous at bats vs. Kitsap starter Matt Rossman. With a base open, Humes decided to go after Murphy who had hammered a game-winning two-run homer off Ross in last week's playoff clinching 5-2 Corvallis win at Goss.

Quickly, Humes got ahead no balls, two strikes. But there was no quit in Murphy. The strapping senior-to be at Wazzou worked the count to 3-2 as Humes nibbled on the outside corner with tailing fastballs. With the count 3-2, Humes would deliver what Murphy would later describe as a hanging slider. Big Jim absolutely crushed the pitch sending the Corvallis crowd into a frenzy.

Murphy's two-run blast went high over the leftfield fence at Goss and gave Corvallis the 4-3 lead.

Up by one run going into the ninth, head coach Matt Dorey called on the Knights' new closer Greg Peavey of Hudson's Bay High School to hold the lead and advance the Knights to the WCCBL Championship Series. With Knights' fans clapping and on their feet, Peavey struckout the first two Jackets he faced. But Kitsap would not go down without a fight and worked two consecutive walks to put the tying and winning runs aboard. With the West Division Series on the line, Peavey collected himself and blew away the final Kitsap batter to earn the save and record his third strikeout of the inning.

It was an electric night at the park and it started with great excitement as Knights' leftfielder Jake Roy of Dakota Wesleyan proposed to his girlfriend as part of the game's first pitch ceremony. A small, but vocal crowd of 348 (and Jake's girl) approved and then saw the Knights get out to a early 2-0 lead as Corvallis scored in the second on a Braden Wells groundout and in the fifth on a Hogan RBI double.

The lead might have been even more, but Kitsap threw out Murphy at home to end the fourth-inning on a single by Wells and Hogan was gunned down at third with one-out trying to advance on his RBI double in the fifth.

Kitsap plated two runs in the seventh to tie the game. Knights' starter Daniel Bibona of UC Irvine had been masterful to that point whitewashing the BlueJackets for six innings.

The inning started with a controversial infield hit by Kitsap's Aaron Johnson. It appeared Johnson was ruled out and then the first base umpire signaled safe. Coach Dorey vehemently argued the call with first base ump Ken Norfleet, but to no avail. After Bibona recorded two ground outs, Kitsap's Doug Buser stole second and scored on Brandon Decker's two-out single. Then Decker advanced to second on a Bibona wild pitch, Nilsen walked and Decker scored on Joey Lind's third hit of the game to knot things at 2-2.

That was it for Bibona as Dorey summoned right-hander Mike Cusick of Western Oregon from the pen to replace the gritty southpaw from Lake Forest, California.

"I was throwing fastballs and changeups," said Bibona. "They sat on some fastballs, but that was about it."

With runners at the corners, Cusick got the Knights out of the inning by striking out Kitsap's best hitter Brandon Kuykendall.

In the top of the eighth, Kitsap took the lead as Kitsap first baseman Ryan Voelkel led off the inning with a double to the left-center wall. Voelkel was lifted for a pinch-runner who advanced to third on Lawson Hipps' flyout to center. With one-out and the winning run at third, Dorey turned to hard throwing Kevin Castner of Cal Poly SLO. With the infield drawn in, Castner induced a ground ball to short that normally surehanded Josh Hogan let scoot through his legs allowing Kitsap to score the go ahead run. Castner gathered himself and got the final two outs of the inning without allowing any further damage setting up Murphy's heroics. The right-hander from Lafayette, California hit 97 MPH several times on the radar gun and earned the playoff clinching win.

Corvallis collected 9 hits. Murphy was 3 for 4 with 2 RBI and a series-winning homerun and Hogan went 2 for 3. Outfielder Matt Wyckoff of George Fox stayed hot reaching base three times and going 1 for 2 with a run scored.

"Murphy's home run was a big one tonight," said Knights' third baseman Clayton Shaw. "Danny Bibona pitched a good game, he did a great job."

With Thursday night's win, Corvallis improves to 38-18 overall and earns a shot at Moses Lake in the WCCBL Championship Series. The Pirates beat Wenatchee 7-2 in the East Division Series finale. Moses Lake posted the league's top mark at 29-13.

Corvallis went 8-1 vs. Kitsap this summer.

Game one of the WCCBL Championship Series is scheduled for Saturday at 7:05 pm at Goss Stadium in Corvallis. Games 2 and 3 will be played Monday and Tuesday (if necessary) in Moses Lake at Larson Field.

Tune into game one of the WCCBL Championship Series Saturday night on 990 AM The Legend. Mike Parker, the voice of the Beavers and Knights, calls the play-by-play.