Former Corvallis Knights southpaw Tyler Anderson of University of Oregon made his MLB debut this past Sunday at home vs. the San Diego Padres.

The lefty from Las Vegas, Nevada turned in an impressive first start as Anderson tossed 6.1 innings of one-run baseball allowing no walks while striking out six in the Rocks 2-1 home win over San Diego.

Anderson pitched in the West Coast League in 2009. He was placed with the Corvallis Knights by then pitching coach Andrew Checketts at Oregon. On the day Anderson debuted in the bigs, Checketts’ UC Santa Barbara Gauchos stunned highly rated Louisville by beating the Cardinals 4-3 on a walk-off grand slam to advance to the College World Series.

Checketts, currently the head coach at UCSB and long-term supporter of the WCL, began his college coaching career with the Knights in 2000 as the team’s pitching coach.

Anderson made 5 appearances for Corvallis in 2009, tossing 7 innings while striking out 6 and posting a 3.86 ERA.

That summer, Anderson threw to two future Big League catchers in Rocky Gale (Padres) and Andrew Susac (Giants).

ABOUT THE WEST COAST LEAGUE

The West Coast League is the premier summer collegiate baseball league west of the Mississippi. The 12-year-old, 11-team, professionally operated wood-bat league located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest features pro prospects from major conferences across the nation and an unparalleled history out west of great fan and player experiences in addition to the best summer weather in North America. In 2015, 59 players with WCL experience were selected in the MLB June draft, and more than 200 WCL alums appeared in affiliated professional baseball including 25 in the major leagues, such as home-run leader Chris Davis (Baltimore), NL Rookie of the Year runner-up Matt Duffy (San Francisco) and rising star pitchers Matt Andriese (Tampa Bay) and Josh Osich (San Francisco). Overall member attendance exceeded 400,000 in 2015. The 2016 54-game campaign opens tonight.