Kamloops – The NorthPaws were unable to avoid the sweep against the Corvallis Knights, losing 14-6 on Sunday afternoon. A seven-run top of the sixth from the Knights proved to be too much to manage. The team falls to 0-3 for the first time since 2023.
Paws head coach Riley Jepson isn’t concerned or ready to hit the panic button after opening weekend, however.
“I don’t think anything really went wrong in the series,” Jepson said. “We played 27 good innings out of 30 and just had one bad inning per game where guys got a little bit sped up.”
Corvallis took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the third, but Kamloops answered with three of their own. Logan Booth hit an RBI single. Later in the inning, he and Keegan Drinkle both scored off wild pitches, giving the NorthPaws the lead. Drinkle added an RBI single of his own in the bottom of the fourth, extending the lead.
The middle third of the ballgame, like the previous two games, was a seesaw battle. Corvallis capitalized on walks and errors from the NorthPaws, tying the game at four going into the bottom of the fifth. The NorthPaws once again had an answer, this time off the bat of Kade Crawford, who singled up the middle with the bases loaded, driving in two runs.
The Paws had the lead heading into the sixth, but that’s where things took a turn for the worse. Four hits, two walks, two hit batters, a balk and an error equated to seven runs for the Knights by the end of the inning.
The Kamloops bats had no answer, the crowd was stunned, and once again the Knights looked like they’d stolen another one from the NorthPaws. The Paws left runners on in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, unable to capitalize.
Corvallis put up three more runs in the ninth to officially make it a rout. In 2025, the NorthPaws started the season by sweeping Port Angeles on the road, and Corvallis started off by getting swept by the Portland Pickels. Now, in 2026, the roles are reversed as the Paws gear up for a six-game road trip.
The team has their first off day before hitting the road on Tuesday for three in Ridgefield, followed by a weekend series against the Wenatchee AppleSox. Jepson’s message to the team was simple as they headed into a new week.
“Enjoy the off day, don’t panic, it’ll get better,”
The NorthPaws will return home on June 9th, when they will begin a six-game homestead.
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