This past Thursday night, the Corvallis Knights clinched a West Coast League playoff berth for the 12th consecutive year by beating their longtime rival the Bend Elks 8-5 at Oregon State’s Goss Stadium.

Corvallis is the league’s reigning champion, winning back-to-back WCL titles in 2016 and 2017.

The league’s defending champions are currently on an 11-game WCL win streak after topping Cowlitz at David Story Field last night 8-1. Corvallis sits in first place in the WCL South second-half standings with a 17-5 mark, a half-game ahead of first-half champion Portland.

The Knights and Pickles will face-off in the WCL South Divisional Series, with game one being played in Corvallis on Friday, August 10. Games two and three (if necessary) will be played at Walker Stadium in Portland August 11 and 12, respectively. The Pickles, the WCL’s newest member, currently feature the league’s top overall record at 34-15; Corvallis is 33-16 overall.

The final WCL playoff spot is still up for grabs with Yakima Valley, Wenatchee, Kelowna and Victoria all contending in the North. Yakima Valley currently leads the North Division with a 14-8 mark. Bellingham won the first-half championship.

ABOUT THE WEST COAST LEAGUE

The West Coast League (WCL) is the premier summer collegiate baseball league west of the Mississippi. The 14-year-old, 11-team, professionally operated wood-bat league located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest showcases pro prospects from major national conferences from June through the middle of August. The WCL features an unparalleled history of memorable fan and player experiences, and the best summer weather in North America. In 2018, 72 players with WCL experience were selected in Major League Baseball’s June amateur draft. 271 WCL alums appeared or were active in affiliated professional baseball in 2017, including 31 in the major leagues, such as 2015 home-run leader Chris Davis (Baltimore); record-breaking rookie slugger Rhys Hoskins (Philadelphia); rising star pitchers James Paxton (Seattle) and Matt Boyd (Detroit); and 2018 AL All-Star outfielder Mitch Haniger (Seattle). Overall member attendance was 412,392 last summer, an increase of nearly nine percent year to year.