Mahle's single ends Bells no-hit bid in 6-0 defeat.

An eighth-inning opposite-field single by Greg Mahle of UCSB was the Knights' lone hit and spoiled a no-hit bid by Bellingham's Sean Hartnett.

Bellingham left fielder Michael Gerlach nearly snared Mahle's line drive with a headlong dive. But the ball bounced off the heel of his glove and landed in the grass to end Hartnett's bid for the first no-hitter against the Knights in WCL history.

The loss ended the Knights' 12-game winning streak and their franchise-record 11-game West Coast League winning streak. The Knights had not lost since June 10 in Wenatchee, and had not lost a home game this season.

Hartnett retired 19 straight Knights before he hit Nate Blackham with one out in the seventh. Blackham was immediately picked off first, so no Knight made it to second as Mahle was also stranded at first.

Hartnett, sophomore to-be at Washington State, and reliever Chris Harper faced only 28 batters, one over the nine-inning minimum.

The right-hander from Kent, Washington struck out six and did not walk a batter. He threw 70 of his 102 pitches for strikes and lowered his ERA a full 1.4 runs to 2.46. He had walked 10 batters in 14 innings before Wednesday's gem.

"The pitcher was throwing a lot of fastballs, I was trying hard to square him up," said Knights' third baseman Caleb Whalen, who fouled off six two-strike pitches before grounding out to end the first inning. "He did a really good job of keeping us off-balance."

The Bells rocked Knights' starter AJ Burke for six runs in 2.1 innings. Derek Atkinson ended Burke's night with a two-run homer in the third. Joe Winterburn had a two-run double and Johnny Farrington had a two-run single in a second inning.

Rob Dittrick of Pacific University threw 4.2 innings of scoreless relief, with five strikeouts to keep the game close. Antonio Gonzales of UC Riverside added two more scoreless innings for a total of 6.2 scoreless from the bullpen.

The series concludes at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday at Goss Stadium. Max Beatty (0-0, 0.00) of Pacific Lutheran is the Knights' projected starter; Bellingham will go with Adam Gunn of Utah Valley, in his summer debut.

The Knights open a four-game home series with Kitsap at 6:40 p.m. Friday.