Lee impressive in starting debut but Knights fall to Elks.

Slater Lee turned in an impressive performance on Friday night in his Corvallis debut as a starting pitcher but Bend rallied late to claim the series opener 9-4 at Goss Stadium.

The junior-to-be at Cal Poly from Carlsbad, Calif., allowed one unearned run and four hits over six innings and left with the game tied 1-1. He struck out five, did not walk a batter and retired eight of the final nine hitters he faced in his second appearance of the summer. He threw 59 strikes in 89 pitches.

The Elks (10-3) extended their lead over the Knights (7-7 all, 6-7 WCL) to four games in the West Coast League's South Division with the victory. They scored seven times with one out in the seventh inning to shatter what was a 1-1 tie between the longtime rivals.

Lee was 1-1, 6.27 in 10 games for the Mustangs this past spring. He was supposed to play for the Knights in 2014, but was shut down for the summer with a minor knee injury after going 3-2 with a 6.20 ERA in 14 games, with 34 strikeouts in 49.1 innings.

Designated hitter Cameron Bishop (UC Irvine) doubled, singled, drove in a run and reached safely in all four plate appearances for the Knights. Catcher Ryan Matranga (San Francisco) added an RBI single.

Friday's crowd of 1,923 was a season-high for a league game and upped the season attendance to 11,054 in eight dates. That puts the Knights 1,384 ahead of last year's total through a corresponding number of home openings.

The series resumes at 7:15 p.m. Saturday on Fireworks Night, presented by Samaritan Health Services. Portland lefty Cole Doherty (1-1, 5.35) will start for the Knights; Bend's starter is TBA.