Jack Benjamin

YAKIMA, Wash. – The fourth season of Yakima Valley Pippins West Coast League baseball ends with something the previous three could not produce: a postseason victory. Their 9-3 game one win over the Corvallis Knights in the 2017 WCL South Divisional Playoffs was their first postseason victory in five tries...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Yakima Valley Pippins may have been outscored, outhit, and outplayed by the Corvallis Knights in their regular season finale on Sunday night, but there was a silver lining to the result. Using their overall record as the key tiebreaker, the Pippins were able to overcome a 7-3 loss to Corvallis to clinch the second playoff berth in the West Coast League South over the Cowlitz

CORVALLIS, Ore. – With the Yakima Valley Pippins trailing the Corvallis Knights 4-3 with two runners on base and two outs in top of the ninth inning on Saturday night, Steve Sordahl stepped to the plate. Sordahl, who had entered the at-bat just two for his last 20, and who had seen his average drop below ...

LONGVIEW, Wash. – On July 10, the Cowlitz Black Bears had just used dominant pitching to take consecutive games and the series from the Yakima Valley Pippins on the road. Following a 7-5 Pippins win in their series opener on July 8, Cowlitz had allowed just three runs in the final two games of the series...

LONGVIEW, Wash. – In his fourth scheduled start of the season against the Corvallis Knights on July 24, Taylor Dollard (Cal Poly-SLO) lasted just two innings because of a blister that provided him with extreme discomfort on his throwing hand. In his fifth start, on Tuesday night against the Cowlitz Black Bears, Dollard more than made up for his early exit in his prior outing, dealing eight shutout

YAKIMA, Wash. – Anthony Alvarado (Columbia Basin) did not know he was going to start Sunday night’s game for the Yakima Valley Pippins until he arrived at the ballpark earlier in the day. It did not seem to matter to the left-hander, however, as Alvarado threw a complete game shutout, allowing just a pair of hits while getting a bunch of early run support from his offense as the Pippins beat the P

YAKIMA, Wash. – Back on June 20, Tora Otsuka (San Diego) had every right to question his approach at the plate. At the time, Otsuka had collected just four hits in his first 28 at-bats for the Yakima Valley Pippins. The numbers did not tell the whole story, however as Otsuka was hitting the ball hard but right at infielders and outfielders while his strike out rate was still low and he was working

BEND, Ore. – The Yakima Valley Pippins have used their 2017 West Coast League season to redefine the expression “no lead is safe.” Not only have the Pippins recovered from many deficits to win, but they have also blown their fair share of opportunities...

BEND, Ore. – Having just blown a 5-4 lead with their star pitcher, Connor White (Portland), on the mound in the eighth, many teams might have hung their heads and folded in a road game. Of course, in terms of the ability to persevere, the Yakima Valley Pippins are not most teams...

YAKIMA, Wash. – In the first two games of their series with the Corvallis Knights, the Yakima Valley Pippins’ bullpen had been unable to contain Corvallis, leading to a pair of close defeats. That had to change if the Pippins were to win on Monday, when Pete Minella (Western Illinois) was summoned into the ballgame in the third inning, after starter Taylor Dollard (Cal Poly-SLO) had to leave the g