You know this one felt good on so many levels.
The Victoria HarbourCats finally solved the puzzle that is the Corvallis Knights. All thanks to a Corvallis hero from another team.
Ryan Ober, a true freshman who won the 2018 NCAA College World Series this spring with the Corvallis-based Oregon State Beavers, launched two home runs for Victoria on Thursday to show his ample future promise. The first was a solo shot and the second counted for three runs on a four-for-five night by Ober as the HarbourCats defeated the Knights 11-5 in West Coast League action at Royal Athletic Park.
鈥淭hat was awesome. It was a great feeling. Summer ball is more free swinging than in college,鈥� said Ober.
鈥淚t鈥檚 good to keep the defending [WCL] champions [Knights] humble.鈥�
Ober is expected to step into the Oregon State starting infield lineup next season.
鈥淚 was playing behind essentially three first-round [MLB] draft picks this season,鈥� he said.
The result snapped a six-game Corvallis winning streak against Victoria stretching back to last year's best-of-three WCL playoff final, a series the Knights rallied to win 2-1 after dropping the first game. The Knights swept Victoria 3-0 in their first meeting this season in Oregon and won the first game of this current set 3-2 on Wednesday at RAP. The set concludes with the rubber match tonight.
Victoria is 5-6 in the second half of the season and 19-19 overall in the North Division. The annual powerhouse and five-time WCL-champion Knights, named for the wife of Nike co-founder Phil Knight and main team sponsor Penny Knight, are 6-3 in the second half and 22-14 overall in the South Division.
DIAMOND DUST: The day began, meanwhile, with HarbourCats head coach Brian McRae and assistant coach and former Montreal Expos infielder Todd Haney 鈥� along with James Lofton and 2003 all-star pitcher Shawn Chacon of the Colorado Rockies 鈥� conducting a free MLB Players Alumni Association clinic for Island youth players on Thursday.
McRae, Haney, Lofton and Chacon combined for 1,732 games in a total of 24聽MLB seasons.
McRae will join Roberto Alomar, Lloyd Moseby, Jesse Barfield, Ricky Romero and J.P. Arencibia in the sold-out Toronto Blue Jays Academy Honda Super Camp on Tuesday and Wednesday at Serauxmen Stadium in Nanaimo.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good change of pace for us coaches, too, to take a step back and see eager kids having fun without worrying about wins-losses and stats,鈥� McRae said.
