Martin shines in relief in 5-0 loss to Klamath Falls.

Michael Martin (pictured) threw three innings of scoreless relief but Corvallis lost 5-0 to Klamath Falls on Wednesday to even the West Coast League series at a game apiece.

The Gems (10-34) snapped a nine-game losing streak at Goss Stadium in also ending a three-game winning streak for Knights (29-20 all, 24-20 WCL). Corvallis remained in first place in the race for the WCL's wild-card playoff berth, however.

A redshirt freshman at UC Riverside who has battled arm injuries the past two years, Martin allowed two hits, struck out two and lowered his ERA from 20.25 to 13.96 with an encouraging performance in his longest outing of the summer.

Klamath Falls pitchers Jordan Horak (7 innings), Travis Sanders (1) and Jake Repavich (1) faced just four batters over the nine-inning minimum and limited the Knights to singles by Cole Kreuter and Clay Fisher. It was just the second time this year the Knights had been shut out; the other time was 4-0 by Bellingham on June 9, also at Goss Stadium.

The Knights hit into a triple play to squelch a budding rally in the seventh inning. Kreuter lined out to shortstop and Fisher and Michael Farris, who were running on the play, were doubled up and retired.

The Knights are 14-4 in their last 18 WCL games and can win another series by prevailing in Game 3, set for 6:40 p.m. Wednesday.

The rubber game of the series is set for 6:40 p.m. Thursday on 3 on a Block 15 Thursday and a Spindrift Cellars Tasting Night. Dakody Clemmer (2-1, 3.37) of Central Arizona will start for the Knights, opposed by Garrett Alvarez (2-3, 4.30) of Western Oregon in a matchup of right-handers.

Wednesday's crowd of 1,438 raised the season total to 40,297 in 28 dates, the fifth year in a row the Knights have surpassed the 40,000 mark. That is 4,944 fans ahead of our 2014 total through a corresponding number of openings.