Platt, Stilley and Starr combine to shutout Elks on two hits. Corvallis beats Bend 3-0 to take series.

Ryan Platt (pictured) of UC Riverside pitched six shutout innings while striking out 11 to earn the win. Frosh southpaw David Stilley of Washington State tossed two scoreless innings and punched out 4 Elks. And frosh Taylor Starr of Oregon State earned the save by striking out the side in the ninth.

In a quick game that finished in little over two hours, the Knights whitewashed Bend 3-0 as the Corvallis' pitching staff combined to strikeout 18 Elks' hitters.

Starting pitcher Platt wowed the crowd of 431 as he was perfect through 3 1/3 innings and finished with 11 strikeouts.

"As a staff we started ahead all night so it gives you a chance," Platt said. "When you start out ahead it gives you more options with your pitches. Early on I was able to throw pitches for strikes and was able to establish my curveball."

The Knights got on the board in the second inning as outfielder Adam Melker of Cal Poly knocked a ball up the middle for a one-out single. After advancing to second on a wild pitch, Melker scored on a single to left-center off the bat of first baseman Ian Bridges of Sonoma State.

Bridges RBI proved to be the game winner.

Corvallis picked up two insurance runs in the seventh when once again Melker got things going with a single up the middle. The soph outfielder then stole second and on the same play astutely advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Bridges followed with a walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Matt Wyckoff of George Fox. Wyckoff promptly stole second and scored with Melker on a ground ball single off the bat of Riverside CC's Richie Jimenez that alluded a drawn in infield.

"We are really pleased with what we are doing as a staff," Knights' head coach Brooke Knight said. "We always try to turn it up against Bend and I am sure they do with us too, it's a great rivalry and fun for the kids. We still have one more and don't want to look past that."

Melker went 2 for 3 and scored two runs.

Junior outfielder John Wallace of Oregon State stole two bases.

Jimenez made two superb defensive plays and collected 2 RBI. The Knights did not commit an error.

With the win, Corvallis improves its overall record to 12-7 and League mark to 11-6. The Knights now lead the West by two games. Bend drops to 9-8.

The Knights go for the home sweep on Thursday night, which is Fireworks Nights presented by OSU Federal Credit Union.

Game time is 7:35 pm. The fireworks start immediately after the game.

You can listen to the series finale on 990 AM The Legend. Mike Parker, the voice of the Knights, calls all the action.