Corvallis continues to weave its spell over Moses Lake
Corvallis continues to weave its spell over Moses Lake
Rogers pitches a dandy, but Moses Lake offense comes up dry again
CORVALLIS, Ore. — If you need a good movie analogy for the Moses Lake-Corvallis baseball rivalry, just call Corvallis the kryptonite to Moses Lake's Superman.
For the fourth time in as many meetings this summer, the Knights knocked off the Pirates, this one a 1-0 pitching duel between Moses Lake's Tyler Rogers and Corvallis' Matt Way at Goss Field.
Moses Lake is a perfect 12-0 against its other West Coast Collegiate Baseball League foes, but hasn't found the solution for the Knights yet. Corvallis swept a three-game series at Larson Field on June 22-24.
The only run of the game came in the bottom of the sixth inning — and it came in rather bizarre fashion. Corvallis center fielder Braden Wells singled and advanced to second base on a Rogers balk. Wells advanced to third on an Erik Ammon ground ball and a second Rogers balk brought him home.
Rogers was nearly flawless otherwise. He went eight innings, allowing six hits and two walks while striking out five. He took the loss nonetheless, evening his season record at 1-1.
Way (2-0) was even better, however. He cruised through seven innings, giving up three hits and striking out seven. Knight relievers Brad Kidd, Daniel Bibona and Kyle Cruikshank finished things off from there, allowing Moses Lake two hits in the final two innings.
Cruikshank got his third save, though the Pirates threatened to steal it away from him. Steve Tinoco and Mike Capbarat singled with one out to put the tying run in scoring position, and a Kevin Coddington ground ball advanced both runners into scoring position. But Cruikshank coaxed a fly ball to right field from Jesse Ayala to end the game.
Moses Lake looked as if it would strike early against Way as Kim singled to lead off the game and stole second. Coddington reached on an error and Kim moved to third, but Way got Ayala to strike out looking.
The Pirates haven't mustered much offense in its four games with Corvallis this year, scoring a total of five runs and posting two shutouts.
Moses Lake (12-4) maintained its five-game lead in the WCCBL East Division as second-place Spokane (7-9) fell to Bend Tuesday night, 8-5.
Tinoco was the Pirates' offensive leader, finishing 2 for 4. Capbarat, Zach Kim and Ryan Bersen had Moses Lake's other hits.
Wells and Knight shortstop Drew Garcia each finished 2 for 3 to pace Corvallis' six-hit attack.
The teams played game two of the series Wednesday evening, with Moses Lake's Michael Ratigan (1-1, 1.42 earned-run average) opposing J.R. Murphy (0-1, 1.77).
The series closes tonight at 7:05 p.m. with Dale Reneau (2-0, 0.77) going for the Pirates and Eric Massingham (0-0, 3.38) going for the Knights.
Moses Lake then begins a three-game set in Bend over the weekend. The Pirates take Monday off before returning to play at Wenatchee next Tuesday. That series shifts to Larson Field next Wednesday and goes back to Wenatchee for the third and final game the next night.
Become a Subscriber!
You have read all of your free articles this month. Select a plan below to start your subscription today.
Already a subscriber? Login
