Pippins Fall in Extras to Knights

After rallying back several times, the Pippins offense couldn't find one more rally in the eleventh, dropping the first game of the series to the Corvallis Knights 5-4.

The Knights and Pippins would trade blows in the second inning. Austin Feist lead off the top of the second with a double and was bunted to third. Cody Hawken then drove in the first run of the game with a groundout to second, scoring Feist.

The Pippins came right back in the bottom half of the inning. Kyle Dean, who has been the hottest hitter over the past week for the Pippins, got on base with a one out single. Nick DiCarlo followed to put runners at second and third with one out. Tyler Hollow was able to even the score with a sacrifice fly, scoring Dean who went 4-5 on the day.

After the second, both Daniel Slominski and Hunter French settled down on the mound and the game remained 1-1 until the sixth when the Pippins took their first lead of the night.

Elijah Greene lead off the inning with a single. After a fly out, Tyler Lasch and Cole Pofek followed with singles to give the Pippins a 2-1 lead. The Pippins had a chance to extend the lead with a second and third, one out situation but they couldn't capitalize.

In the top of the seventh, the Knights retook the lead. After a one out triple by Feist, Beau Philip and Cody Hawken hit back to back RBI doubles to knock French out of the game. Hawken would reach third on an errant throw to the plate and would later score on a sacrifice fly to give the Knights a 4-2 lead.

The Pippins rallied in the bottom of the eighth with two runs on the strength of an RBI double by Dean and an RBI groundout by Jake Moberg to pull even at four.

Both teams would be retired in order in the ninth, sending the Pippins to their second extra inning game of the season.

After the bullpen held the Knights in the top of the tenth, the Pippins had an opportunity to walk it off in the bottom half of the inning with a first and second, two out situation. On a 1-2 pitch, Moberg was rung up on a borderline pitch on the inside corner which sent the game to the eleventh.

Corvallis would take the lead for good in the eleventh on an RBI single from Zac Taylor, driving in Chandler Anderson who got on board on a one out double. Pippins reliever Cole Fossat would hold the deficit to one run.

The Pippins had one more opportunity in the bottom half, putting the first two runners on base. In a crucial play, Victor Cerny was thrown out at second after getting to big of a secondary lead. Later in the inning with a runner on third, Cody Jefferis hit a groundball to first and just got beaten to the bag by the pitcher for the final out of the game, sealing a 5-4 Knights win.

The loss snapped the Pippins two game winning streak. Game two of the three game series is on Wednesday. First pitch at 6:35.