CORVALLIS, Ore. – A big first inning and strong pitching led the Corvallis Knights to a 7-1 win over the Yakima Valley Pippins at Goss Stadium on Saturday night, the 8th straight win for Corvallis, and the 8th straight loss for the Pippins.

Corvallis (14-6) exploded in the first inning off of Pippins (8-14) starter Mark Woinarowicz, tagging the righty for five earned runs on 8 hits in just 0.2 of an inning before he was relieved. Four of the eight first-inning hits were for extra-bases, including a booming 3-run homer by Knights first baseman Trace Tammaro, his second homer against the Pippins in the past week.

That was more than enough for the Knights pitching staff, a stellar outing on the bump that started with right-hander Connor Redmond, who tossed two scoreless innings to open his outing. Colton Meyer relieved him in the 3rd inning and got the bulk of the work in relief, picking up his first win after allowing one earned run over 3.1 innings, striking out two.

The only run the Pippins picked up was in the third, when they were already trailing 6-0. Zach Meddings led off the inning with a double in his first Pippins at-bat, and scored a few batters later on an Owen Cobb sacrifice fly. From that point forward, the Pippins pitching was strong, but Corvallis’ big first inning set them ahead for good.

Bo Henderson threw two scoreless innings of relief, and was followed by scoreless frames from Tyler Frazier and Nick Brown. Jack Gonzales had another strong outing, going 3.2 innings, allowing 2 unearned runs. For Corvallis, Trevor Bateson, Nick Caviglia, and Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis shut down the Pippins on the back end, allowing just three hits combined while striking out a pair.

Brady Hormel and Brett Wells both had two-hit days for the Pippins, and Meddings added the double and a run scored. Briley Knight led the way offensively for Corvallis with 3 hits, including two doubles. Jake Holcroft, Brooks Lee, Nick Yovetich, and Matthew Gretler all also had multi-hit days for the Knights.

The series wraps up on Sunday with a scheduled 3:00 first pitch at Goss Stadium. A pair of left-handers will square off in the Pippins’ Darius Garcia and Corvallis’ Tevita Gerber. Pregame coverage with Miles Klotz will begin at 2:45 at pippinsbaseball.com/live.