LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Oct. 25, 2024) – Former ETSU baseball standout and Johnson City native Landon Knack will live out a dream of baseball players in the coming days as he has been named to the World Series roster for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers will face off against the New York Yankees in a best-of-seven series beginning tonight in Los Angeles. First pitch is set for 8:08 p.m. eastern time on Fox.
"I am very proud of Landon and his incredible work ethic always put him in a situation to succeed," said ETSU Head Baseball Coach
Joe Pennucci. "It's a special moment for a special man!"
Knack has split his 2024 season between Los Angeles and Triple-A Oklahoma City. During the regular season, Knack pitched in 15 games (12 starts) for the Dodgers and posted a 3-5 record with a 3.65 ERA in 69 innings pitched. Knack has also made a pair of relief appearances for Los Angeles in the postseason that included a scoreless inning against the San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series.
Should Knack appear in a game against the Yankees, he'll be the first former Buccaneer to play in a World Series game since Atlee Hammaker pitched for the San Francisco Giants against the Oakland A's in 1989.
As a Buccaneer, Knack owns the school record for career ERA among players with at least 60 innings, finishing with a career mark of 2.29. In his debut season at ETSU, Knack served as the Saturday starter in 2019 and boasted a 2.60 ERA over 97.0 innings with a team-best 94 strikeouts.
In a shortened 2020 season, Knack made four starts as the staff ace and had a team-low 1.08 ERA with a team-high 25.0 innings pitched. Knack broke the school record for single game strikeouts in the final start of his collegiate career, fanning 16 batters in six innings of work during a 13-1 win over Wagner at home. He won all four of his starts and led all NCAA pitchers in strikeouts and strikeout-to-walk ratio with 51 strikeouts and just one walk.
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