Knights rock Rogues, tighten grip on second.
July 24, 2013Starter Chris Bishop (pictured) stymied Medford for six innings and the Knights strengthened their hold on second place in the South Division on Wednesday with a 6-1 win.
A Goss Stadium crowd of 1,045 saw Corvallis (26-15, 22-15 WCL) expand its lead over the Rogues (20-20 WCL) to 3.5 games in the race for second place. The top two finishers in each division advance to the playoffs.
The Knights moved to within one game of first-place Bend, which was idle on Wednesday. They also snapped Medford�s six-game winning streak and spoiled the first visit to Corvallis for one of the WCL's two expansion teams.
Bishop allowed one run and four hits through six innings before turning it over to the bullpen. Oregon State signee Kevin Flemer threw two scoreless innings and Colin Feldtman locked it down in the ninth.
It was the third straight quality six-inning start for Bishop, a rising junior at Pacific Lutheran. He has allowed three runs in that 18-inning span, with nine strikeouts, and has two wins.
"I really just wanted to work on attacking hitters and cutting down on walks," Bishop said, and he accomplished that objective with 56 strikes in 86 pitches. "Getting ahead of hitters has been big for me this summer and that will carry over into school ball. I'm feeling pretty good about myself now."
Left fielder Dane Lund was 4-for-4 with two RBIs, two steals and two runs to pace a nine-hit attack, raising his average to .354 in WCL games, ninth-best in the league. No one else had more than one hit.
The series continues at 6:40 p.m. Thursday. Righty Alex Nesbitt (2-1, 2.41) is the Knights' projected starter. The series concludes Friday night on Cap Night, sponsored by the Mario Pastega House.