The Corvallis Knights secured a series sweep of the Kelowna Falcons with a 6-0 victory Thursday night at Goss Stadium.
This victory also gave Corvallis their ninth-straight win and bumped them up to second place in the West Coast League (WCL) standings.
As the game began, an immediate pitching battle broke out between Kelowna right-handed pitcher Griffin Naess and Corvallis left-handed pitcher Miles Mosztola. Both pitchers allowed zero runs in their first four innings. However, in the fifth inning, hitting from the Knights offense shifted control of this matchup.
Mosztola picked up two groundouts and a line out to end the top of the fifth inning. Naess returned in the bottom of the inning to face off against the leadoff batter infielder Phoenix Call.
After getting up in the count, 2-0, Call swung early on a pitch and hit a leadoff double. Designated hitter Tyler Quinn hit a sacrifice fly ball to give Call a free jog into home plate for the first run of the night for the Knights.
As the game progressed into the sixth inning, Corvallis subbed in right-handed pitcher Merit Jones for Gosztola. Jones proceeded to dominate the Kelowna lineup in his two innings pitched as in the top of the sixth; he struck out the side to put the Knights right back on offense.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Corvallis infielder Ethan Hedges advanced to first base with a leadoff hit by a pitch. He then stole second, and to throw him out, catcher Konner Palmeira made a throwing error, allowing Hedges to reach third base.
On a wild pitch, Hedges raced to home plate to make the score 2-0 for the Knights. Right-handed pitcher Reece Bueno proceeded to walk the next two batters; infielder Tate Shimao knocked a base hit into left field, scoring the third run.
Following a failed squeeze bunt attempt and another walk from Bueno, Kelowna brought in right-handed pitcher Trasher Steed, who ended up walking a runner in before retiring the side with a strikeout.
With the scoreline at 4-0, Jones continued working on the Knights mound. Only conceding one hit and no runs in the top of the seventh inning.
Steed faced more challenges in the bottom of the seventh when he walked Hedges, and after the walk, Hedges stole second, which forced a throwing error from the catcher and easily reached third base with no outs.
Corvallis catcher Anson Aroz capitalized on the mistake with an RBI single extending the Knights’ lead to five. The second error of the inning was when Steed attempted to pick off Aroz at first but overthrew the ball, allowing Aroz to take second freely.
Aroz then stole third base as Steed walked Hott on four pitches. Consequently, when Hott bolted to try and steal second base, Palmeira attempted to throw him out unsuccessfully, which gave Aroz the opportunity to score for a 6-0 ball game.
After infielder Blake Avila made a double play at first, all by himself in the top of the eighth, followed by a line out being caught by Call at shortstop and turned into a 6-4 double play in the top of the ninth. The Knights had completed the shutout and the 3-0 sweep over the Kelowna Falcons.
The Knights look on to their final, regular season games to continue their win streak and build even more momentum for the upcoming WCL playoffs, beginning on August 8th.
The Corvallis Knights are set to play their first game in a three-game series against the Walla Walla Sweets tomorrow, with the first pitch time set for 6:35 pm at Borleske Field in Walla Walla, WA.