Wild Things Add 4x WCL Champ, Portland Standout OF
WASHINGTON, Pa. (Dec. 29) – The Washington Wild Things have signed outfielder Briley Knight, a standout at the University of Portland and four-time West Coast League champion with the Corvallis Knights. The transactions are presented by McClellands Contacting and Roofing, LLC. Knight also is currently playing in the Australian Baseball League with the Adelaide Giants, where he’s teammates with former Wild Thing Nick Ward.
Knight, at the time of this release, is 11-for-38 (.289) with a .372 on-base percentage and .474 slugging percentage with Adelaide, who’s in the midst of a championship defense this season, as well as playing its weekend slate in the ABL against the Melbourne Aces. He’s appeared in 13 of the Giants’ 25 games thus far, and he has two doubles, one triple, a home run and eight RBI.
Five of those RBI came as Adelaide set its franchise runs in a game high with 27 runs against Canberra in Round 5. Knight’s bases-clearing triple got the Giants to 27 runs that game. He also doubled home a pair after entering the game for former Wild Thing Quincy Latimore. Ward was 6-for-6 with six runs scored, a homer and four RBI in that victory. Latimore was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI before exiting. Former Wild Things’ pitcher Luke Wilkins also plays for Adelaide.
Briley is coming off a great season at the University of Portland too, with 2023 being his third with the Pilots. In 50 games, Knight slashed .322/.409/.487 with 21 doubles, four homers and 43 RBI. That went along with 24 walks drawn and six HBP, a free pass total higher than his strikeout count of 27. He scored 32 times. The Pilots made a WCC Championship appearance in 2023, their first ever appearance in the championship. Knight was honorable mention All-WCC. Over his three seasons at Portland, he hit .278/.382/.470 with 18 homers, 99 RBI and 35 doubles.
Before heading to Portland, Knight spent 2019 and 2020 with Utah (Pac-12). He appeared in 40 games and drove in 17 in 2019 before appearing in seven games in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He was 9-for-28 with three doubles and four RBI in those outings.
Briley played four seasons in the summer-collegiate West Coast League as well for the Corvallis Knights in his hometown. He slashed .280/.390/.443 with 35 doubles, five triples, 14 homers and 102 RBI for the Knights. Corvallis is on a string of seven-consecutive WCL titles. The team is managed by Briley’s dad Brooke, a long-time skipper with the club (15 complete seasons) and once manager in the ABL with both Adelaide and the Perth Heart, where he won back-to-back ABL titles in 2011 and 2012. Brooke is an eight-time WCL Coach of the Year.
The Australian-born outfielder recently played for Team Australia in the Asia Professional Baseball Championship, which featured U-24 competition from the NPB, KBO, CPBL and ABL.
This is Knight’s first United States professional contract.
Washington is set to open its season at home Friday, May 10 against the Schaumburg Boomers. Season ticket and group packages are available for purchase now by calling 866-456-WILD or going to washingtonwildthings.com. Fans can also follow the team’s social media pages and site for news on the building of the roster, including on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and now, once again, YouTube. Search @WashWildThings, go to youtube.com/@WashWildThings or go to facebook.com/washingtonwildthings.
