Knights batter Sweets 10-4, sweep series.

Lefty starter Andrew Naderer (pictured), on limited duty after throwing 94 2/3 innings at Grand Canyon this spring, went four scoreless innings and had six strikeouts Saturday and Corvallis swept Walla Walla with a 10-4 win.

Naderer was relieved after throwing 31 strikes in 52 pitches. He left with an 8-0 lead but did not go the required five innings to be credited with the victory.

"I am on a pitch count so that changes my game plan a little bit," said Naderer, who lowered his ERA to 1.35. "I have to attack the zone more, just throw more strikes.

"I can't really have too many set-up pitches, and that's tough sometimes. I definitely could go longer, but it's not up to me right now. I just have to do what they say.�

Naderer has 21 strikeouts in 20 innings and has allowed just 14 baserunners in that span.

His strong start and an explosive offense enabled the Knights to sweep a Northern Division leader for the second series in a row, delighting a crowd of 1,706. It was the sixth consecutive West Coast League victory for the Knights (23-13 all, 20-13 WCL) and their eighth in a row overall.

Back-to-back sweeps of Wenatchee and the Sweets, both of whom entered the series atop the North Division, enabled them to go 10-1 on a season-long 11-game homestand. Corvallis moved to within one-half game of first-place Bend in the South Division pennant race. The Elks were idle on Saturday.

Kevin Kline doubled twice and drove in two runs and Michael Lucarelli, Grant Melker, Blake Drake, Seth Heck and Gus Craig had two hits apiece for the Knights. They battered 15 hits off four Sweets' (19-14 WCL) pitchers and scored 46 runs overall in the sweeps of Wenatchee and Walla Walla.

Corvallis scored four times in the third and added another four spot in the fourth to put the game out of reach. Lucarelli singled and scored in each inning to key the rallies and had three runs overall.

Stephen Nogosek followed Naderer with two scoreless innings and got the win to even his record at 1-1. Three relievers finished up.

The Knights are idle on Sunday; they open a three-game series at Bellingham on Monday night. Right-hander Jacob Schroeder (2-0, 2.57) as the Knights projected starter. Their next home game is Thursday night's nonleague contest against the Mid-Valley Rockets American Legion team at Goss Stadium.