Kitsap takes game one of West Series 4-1, game two at Goss.

Jim Murphy (pictured) of Washington State was named WCCBL co-Player of the Week for July 30 - August 5. Murphy singled in the eighth, the only inning the Knights scored, for his only hit Monday night.

Kitsap's Kyle Howe of University of Nevada, Reno retired the first 10 Knights he faced and held Corvallis to 4 hits and one run over eight innings to earn the playoff win. Ross Humes of Washington State shut the door on Corvallis as the Knights loaded the bases in the ninth, but Humes got outfielder Braden Wells of OSU to ground out to first base to end the threat and earn the save.

Eric Massingham of Cal Poly SLO was the hard luck loser as the Knights defense uncharacteristically faltered. For the third time in the last four games Corvallis committed three errors in a game and like in Bend the errors turned into big innings and unearned runs. Massingham pitched 7 innings and gave up 8 hits, no earned runs while striking out 8.

Kitsap did all its damage in the fourth inning. With one out, Doug Buser grounded to third, but reached on Clayton Shaw's error. After a hit and run single by Brandon Decker of San Diego State put two Jackets on base, Massingham uncorked a wild pitch advancing the runners to second and third. Jamie Nilsen of Central Washington followed with a bloop single to center that Buser tagged on, but Wells did not make a strong throw to the plate thinking Buser would easily score. Decker did not advance to third and Buser could have likely been thrown out at home. After WCCBL RBI leader Joey Lind of University of Washington struckout, WCCBL All-Star Game co-MVP Brandon Kuykendall of Benedictine College hooked a two-out three-run homer down the leftfield line. All four Kitsap runs were unearned.

Corvallis scored in the eighth. Brett Casey of Oregon State led off with his second single of the game. Murphy followed with the single and after a fielder's choice ground out by Matt Wyckoff of George Fox put runners at the corners, Jake Roy hit what appeared to be a doubleplay comebacker to Howe, but Kyle threw high to Nilsen at shortstop to get only one out allowing Casey to score.

The Knights leave Tuesday morning for Corvallis for a day of much needed rest after traveling from Bend to Corvallis late Sunday night and then to Silverdale early Monday morning.

Game two the WCCBL West Divisional Series is slated for Wednesday, August 8 at 7:05 pm at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. The Knights hope to even the series and force a game three Thursday night at Goss. J.R. Murphy of San Diego State is scheduled to start Wednesday's contest. Murphy posted the league's third lowest ERA at 1.14.

Game two can be heard on 990 AM The Legend. Mike Parker calls the play-by-play.

On Monday, Jim Murphy was named WCCBL co-Player of the Week. He shared the honor with a Husky, pitcher Ben Guidos of Moses Lake. Murphy went 9 for 19 with a homerun and 4 RBI last week.

In other WCCBL playoff news, Wenatchee won game one of the East Divisional Series 11-2 vs. Moses Lake. The two-time champion AppleSox scored 5 runs in the first and cruised at home for the win. Both second place clubs are up 1-0, but must head to Corvallis and Moses Lake to win the series as the Knights and Pirates are home for the final two games (if necessary).