Kelly's RBI sends Knights over Gems 7-6 in 13 innings.

Dalton Kelly (pictured) drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th inning and ended the game with a diving catch in the bottom half as Corvallis edged Klamath Falls 7-6 on Thursday.

Late-inning defensive replacement Michael Lucarelli led off the decisive 13th with a double in his first at-bat. Grant Melker sacrificed him to third and Lucarelli scored on Kelly's third hit of the night, a solid single to right field.

Reliever Merrick Patito then completed his second scoreless inning to end the four-hour, six-minute marathon, the Knights' longest game of the summer. The Knights (17-10 all, 15-10 WCL) have now won four games in a row and lead the South Division by one game.

Kelly also homered and had an RBI single. A rising junior at UC Santa Barbara, he is 8-for-14 (.571) with a homer, a triple, and six RBIs in his last three games to triple his average from .111 to .333.

The Knights lost two late leads before finally putting the Gems (7-14 WCL) away. Klamath Falls scored three times in seventh to erase a 5-2 deficit, and once in the 11th to erase a 6-5 deficit caused by Kelly's homer leading off the inning.

The Knights scored three times in the first on Kevin Kline's RBI double, Jackson Soto's RBI groundout and a run-scoring single from Marc Gallegos. Kelly's RBI single made it 4-1 in the second and Soto scored on a wild pitch in the sixth for a 5-2 advantage.

Starter Justin Calomeni allowed five runs and 10 hits in 6.2 innings, but got a no-decision when the Gems rallied for three two-out runs in the seventh to erase a 5-2 deficit.

The series resumes at 6:35 p.m. Friday. Jackson Lockwood (4-1, 2.90) of Portland is the projected starter for the Knights, opposed by Michael Silva (0-2, 10.32) of Loyola Marymount.

The series concludes at 6:35 p.m. Saturday. The Knights are idle on Sunday and begin a three-game set with Medford at Goss Stadium at 6:40 p.m. Monday.