RiverHawks hand Knights first WCCBL loss. Spokane tallies 4 in the first, win 6-1.

Kyle Stalker of Willamette went 2 for 4 with a double for Corvallis. The game's tone was set in the first inning, as the visiting Spokane RiverHawks scored four in the top of the first putting Corvallis in an early hole.

Spokane's starter Chris Vitus of Mt. Hood CC spun six innings of two-hit baseball surrendering only one run via a balk in the second inning. Vitus struck out seven Knights while walking only one before turning the ball over to Kyle Lawton and Jake Hiatt who kept the Knights off the board in the final three innings.

"He can be very tough to hit," Josh Hogan said of his Mt. Hood teammate Vitus. "He was throwing strikes and keeping us off balance. It is tough to come back from four down, especially when you have a guy on the mound throwing like he was."

Spokane scored early and often after Corvallis starter right-hander James McLaughlin of San Diego State struck out the Hawks' leadoff batter. McLaughlin then hit Eric Renander of Western Oregon, gave up back-to-back singles and a two-run double to Kyle Krustangle. The Hawks didn't stop there as Spokane tacked on two more in the inning to jump out in front of the Knights 4-0 before the Goss crowd of 335 could get settled.

The Knights scratched out a run in the bottom of the second as Kyle Stalker of Willamette University (pictured) drove a Vitus pitch into the rightfield corner for a one out stand-up double. Stalker would advance to third on a groundout by Oregon State's John Wallace before scoring on a balk.

From there, the Knights went hitless until the ninth.

Spokane scored two more in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead as Krustangle was the culprit again doubling in two more runs off McLaughlin.

Right-handed reliever Ryan Platt of UC Riverside made his Knights debut throwing a scoreless inning.

Southpaw David Stilley of Washington State turned in his second straight solid performance tossing 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball while striking out 3.

Frosh pitcher Taylor Starr of OSU pitched a scoreless ninth.

"We didn't do ourselves any favors at the plate," Knights' head coach Brooke Knight said. "It's early and we have done some good things while finding things we need to work at. When losses like this come early you have to take what you can from it and build on it."

The Knights record drops to 4-1 in League snapping a five-game overall winning streak.

Corvallis and Spokane meet up tomorrow night in the series rubber match starting at 6:35 pm at Goss. Junior left-hander Jared Eskew of Cal Poly is scheduled to start for the Knights on Thursday.

Catch the game on 990 AM The Legend. Mike Parker, the voice of the Knights, calls all the action.