Knights take game one of WCL West Divisional Series, Corvallis edges Bend 6-4 before Vince Genna crowd of 3,142.
August 10, 2009
Four-year Knight Billy Clontz (pictured) of Western Oregon went 4-for-5 with a two-run double.
Clontz's double in the fourth inning scored Taylor Ard of Mt. Hood CC and Adam Melker of Cal Poly to tie the game at 2-2.
Melker singled in the 4th and went 3-for-5 on the day. His biggest hit was in the next inning as the senior-to be singled sharply to right with runners at first and second scoring both runners when the ball was misplayed by his college teammate Bobby Crocker. That put the Knights up 5-2.
Earlier in the inning, Ard delivered the game-winning hit with a single to center that scored Doug Cherry of UW from third.
Cherry led-off the inning with a walk, was advanced to second on a sac bunt by Josh Hogan of UO (his 14th sacrifice hit of the season) and to third on a hit to right by Richie Jimenez of Riverside CC. Both Ard and Jimenez scored on Melker's single to right as Crocker let the ball get by him.
Clontz wasn't the only Knight to deliver a special postseason performance as southpaw Liam Baron of Linn-Benton CC replaced starter Matt Andriese of UC Riverside to start the sixth and proceeded to baffle the Elks tossing three scoreless innings while striking out 8 to hold the lead.
Andriese earned the win as the frosh from Redlands, California pitched 5 innings and gave up a season-high 4 runs on 8 hits.
Closer Drew Leary earned the playoff save retiring the Elks in order while striking out two.
Corvallis scored a key insurance run in the eighth on a clutch RBI single by Pat Colwell of San Diego State that scored Clontz to make it 6-4 Knights.
The Knights will look to close out the Elks at Goss Stadium on Wednesday, August 12. Game two's start time is 6:35 pm. The probable starters are Kyle Kraus of UP for Corvallis and lefty Peter Levin for Bend.
Wenatchee took game one of the WCL East Divisional Series as the AppleSox shutout Kelowna 2-0 at Elks Stadium.
Earlier in the day, the Corvallis Knights moved up three spots in the summer college baseball rankings released by Perfect Game Crosschecker this morning. Corvallis is now #3.
Wednesday, August 12 is a BI-MART 2 for 1 Night and $1 Hot Dog Night. If you can't make it out to Goss Stadium, you can listen to the game on KEJO 1240 AM. Mike Parker calls all the action.
