Madrigal leads Corvallis to win, into WCL playoffs.

Second baseman Nick Madrigal had three hits, scored three times and stole five bases to lead the Knights to a 7-4 win over Medford to clinch a WCL playoff berth.

The Knights (37-21 all, 31-21 WCL) eliminated Yakima Valley and Victoria from the wild-card playoff race with their 13th win in their last 16 starts before a Fireworks Night crowd of 2,582. They will open the best-of-3 WCL semifinals at home at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, most likely against South Division champion Bend.

"This team has done a great job of overcoming adversity" and advancing to the postseason for a ninth year in a row after a 7-14 start, coach Brooke Knight said. "We have played well down the stretch and our pitching has really come around."

An incoming freshman at Oregon State, Madrigal has two or more hits in six of his last eight games and is batting .486 (17-35) over that span, with 13 runs and 15 stolen bases in 16 attempts. He now leads the WCL with a league-record 40 steals, and has raised his average 44 points to .312.

Center fielder Emilio Alcantar (Lewis-Clark State in 2015-16) tripled, singled and drove in a run; third baseman Christian Donahue (OSU) singled twice, scored twice and drove in a pair and DH Cameron Bishop (UC Irvne) and catcher Ryan Matranga (San Francisco) each had two hits, a run and an RBI to pace a 14-hit attack.

Starter Branden Cutsforth (Treasure Valley CC) allowed two hits and one run through five innings and pitched out of jams in the third and fifth innings to improve to 4-1. He struck out three in his longest outing of the summer. Reliever Chase Kaplan (Western Nevada College) struck out six in three innings and Harrison McGhee (Concordia) closed it out.

The series and the regular season conclude tonight with a 5:05 p.m. doubleheader. Both games will be seven innings; its Wilson Motors Night and the final Lil' Knights Club Game, presented by Jamba Juice. Just show your LKC card at will call for a free general admission ticket.

Saturday's crowd of 2,582 raised the season total to a franchise-record 46,393 in 30 dates, the fifth year in a row the Knights have surpassed the 40,000 mark. That is 6,923 fans ahead of their 2014 total through a corresponding number of openings.