Cliff Kirkpatrick

Friday night was my debut covering the local summer collegiate wood bat league team, the Knights. I’ve attended a few games last summer just as a spectator.

In their junior year in Corvallis, the Knights are still a quality evening of entertainment for the value of $5 general admission seats. And it’s not like there’s a bad seat in Goss Stadium.

The Knights follow the minor league baseball concept of trying to make it a family entertainment event, not just a baseball game. That way dad can bring the wife and kids without them being totally bored. So the ZOOperstars were at the game this evening.

Basically, they are big-headed inflated characters of well-known people. They do goofy things such as eat people, dance and punch each other. As silly as it sounds, it amuses the children.

My son Hunter, 7.5, was with me, and he was laughing hysterically between innings. We caught them last year and he was interested in seeing them again.

“They are funny,” Hunter said. “They kick each other and fall over. They keep hitting each other.” Of course that’s why he likes them. It’s like watching The Three Stooges.

And what about the baseball team?

“I like the team,” Hunter said. “I like their mascot with the big head. It’s a good mascot, not something like a frog.”

There you have it, from the mouth of babes. Cartoonish fights and tough looking mascots are key.

As for the baseball stuff, the highlight was Knights 2B Josh Hogan pulled off the hidden ball trick in the third inning. I’ve never seen that work.

After a meeting on the mound the pitcher or catcher, I didn’t notice which one, gave Hogan the ball and he went back to his position. As the runner on second got a lead, Hogan rushed over to tag him out.

You see that once every three-plus decades. So for that the game was worth the experience.

As for notes, OF John Desmarais stretched his hitting streak to six games. … DH Brent Warren has a five-game hitting streak going. … OF Pat Colwell said the shadows early in the game gave the hitters problems, which is why the offense came on late. … Check out the game story in Saturday’s GT here, which talks a lot about the three-hit shutout by P Matt Andriese. … Game 2 of the series is 6:35 p.m. Saturday.

Tweet This Post 

Related posts:

1. Knights youth clinic
2. Summer conditioning, Knights
3. Cliff: Sunday night notes
4. Cliff: Sunday night football notes
5. Cliff: A night on the strip