Pippins Preview: June 30 at Corvallis

The Pippins wrap up their 3-game series in Corvallis with the Knights with a Sunday day game, with first pitch set for 3:00 PM PT at Goss Stadium. The Pippins, having lost 8 games in a row, will send left-hander Darius Garcia to the mound to make his third start of the summer. He will be opposed by Corvallis southpaw Tevita Gerber. Pregame coverage with Miles Klotz begins at pippinsbaseball.com/live at 2:45 PM.

Full Game Notes

PIPPINS DROP 8TH STRAIGHT, SERIES TO CORVALLIS: The Pippins continued their season-long road trip on Saturday by dropping their season-long 8th consecutive game, with a 7-1 loss to the Corvallis Knights at Goss Stadium. The Pippins fell behind early and never recovered, as starter Mark Woinarowicz could not complete the first inning, as the Knights knocked him around for five runs on 8 hits (four for extra bases) in 0.2 of an inning. The rest of the game, Corvallis outscored the Pippins by just one run, but the big first inning was enough to claim the series. Corvallis used five arms to hold the Pippins to one lone run on eight hits, with lefty Colton Meyer getting the bulk of the work in relief (3.2 innings, one earned run) to earn his first win of the summer. The Pippins combined for four relievers to not allowed an earned run in 7.1 innings of relief, but Woinarowicz’s rough first inning tagged him with his third loss of the year.

FOR THE PIPPINS: Left-hander Darius Garcia will make his third start of the season on Sunday as the Pippins close out the series in Corvallis. The 5-foot-8, 175-pound southpaw from UC Irvine last appeared for Yakima Valley in relief last Saturday, June 24, against Corvallis at home in Yakima, when he allowed 3 runs (one earned) on 3 hits and 2 strikeouts in one inning of work. Over 9 innings this season, Garcia has an 0-2 record, 6.00 ERA, and has struck out 8 batters to 2 walks over 9 innings.

FOR THE KNIGHTS: Left-hander Tevita Gerber will make his fourth starter of the season on Sunday to close out the series for Corvallis. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound rising senior from Dixie State is 2-1 on the season with a 4.32 ERA, striking out 13 batters and walking 7 over 16.2 innings of work. The left-hander made his last start last Sunday in Yakima, earning the win against the Pippins despite allowing 7 runs (5 earned) on 9 hits, 3 walks, and 6 strikeouts over 5.2 innings.

TRYING TO STOP THE BLEEDING: With Saturday’s loss in Corvallis, the Pippins have dropped eight straight games, which is their longest losing streak of the season, and the longest losing streak of any WCL team in league play in 2019. Their opponent, the Knights, currently hold the longest active winning streak in the WCL at 8 games. In addition, the Pippins have lost eight consecutive road games, with their last win away from home coming on the season’s second day in Ridgefield.

A LOT OF DUDES: The Pippins have had three new additions to the starting lineup this weekend, with catcher Brett Wells, infielder/outfielder Zach Meddings, and infielder Brady Hormel becoming the 38th, 39th, and 40th different players to appear in a Pippins uniform so far this season through 21 games. A litany of injures has led to larger-than-expected roster turnover early in the season.

JACK IS BACK: The only returner from the 2018 Pippins team, left-handed reliever Jack Gonzales took some time to return to his form from last summer, but has settled in recently, with 3.1 innings of relief on Saturday in which he allowed 2 unearned runs extending his streak of outings without an earned run to 3. Over those 3 outings, Gonzales has gone 10 innings, pitching at least 2.2 innings in each appearance. His 2.07 ERA leads all Pippins reliever, and trails only Joe Magrisi (1.12) amongst all Pippins pitchers.

ODDS & ENDS: For the second straight game, Pippins catcher Brett Wells threw out more attempted basestealers (2) than ones that were successful stealing (1)…Mark Woinarowicz went 0.2 innings as the starter on Saturday, tying the shortest start by a Pippins starter this season (Ty Pohlmann, 0.2 innings, 6/26 at Port Angeles, Game 2 of a doubleheader).

By Miles Klotz

June 30, 2019