Elks Come Out on Top in High Tension Dual with Corvallis
Joey Wong’s squad fought through the noise and chaos of the rivalry to even the series with the six-time reigning WCL Champions Corvallis Knights. (Andrew Green)
Bend, OR. - In a heated and drama-filled Saturday night, the Bend Elks came out victorious 4-3 over the Corvallis Knights to set up a rivalry rubber game.
Outlashes from both dugouts peaked the tension between the two longtime rivals creating must-see entertaining baseball for the rest of the game. The blow-up moment came after a long boil-up from bantering back and forth between the Knights dugout and Elks starting pitcher Kaden Hogan who was lights out retiring the first 11 batters he faced with four strikeouts surrendering two runs over five innings. Hogan's villain-like figure set off Brooke Knight and the rest of the Knights' dugout, which, as a result, caused backfire from the Elks' side. Once the commotion was put to rest, Hogan forced a tough pop-up in foul territory that Bend's first basemen Derek Gellos made a sliding catch on and let out his emotional excitement. As a result of his expression on the final out, Gellos was ejected from the contest serving as a huge loss for the Elks since Gellos already had racked up six hits in the weekend set.
Luckily for Bend, the Elks had already built up a four-run cushion thanks to a massive third inning that produced all of Bend's runs. Back-to-back walks issued by Kellen Segel set up Gellos for an RBI single prior to his ejection. Wilson Weber followed with a one-run strike to straightaway center. Despite a pitching substitution, the Elks still hopped right on the fresh arm on a one-run double by Elijah Jackson, plus a wild pitch that allowed Ryan Christiansen to come across, making it a 4-0 Elks lead.
Yet, the six-time defending WCL champions, who had won 16 of their last 17 coming into the matchup, weren't going to go down without a fight. Corvallis scrapped across two runs in the heated high, tense fifth on an RBI single by Phoenix Call and Anson Aroz's sac fly. Despite a little pushback from the Knights' offense, Bend's bullpen fed off Hogan's initial intensity and used it as fuel to power them on to victory. In relief for the Elks, the staff combined for five innings on the back stretch with two strikeouts, giving up just one hit and one run on an Ethan Hedges RBI groundout that went unearned. In all, the Elks support staff retired 12 of the 15 Knights they faced.
Outside of those handfuls of runs, both squads stayed fairly quiet throughout the ballgame, with Bend working just six hits while striking out ten times. In the meantime, Corvallis wasn't much better off salvaging just four hits, half of which came from Sam Stem.
Bend and Corvallis will square off in the rivalry rubber match for the second time this season between these familiar foes Sunday at 6:35 p.m. at Vince Genna Stadium. The Elks will try and rewrite their wrongs of the past as they were blown out 15-3 in the last rubber meeting in mid-June at Goss Stadium.
