Corvallis falls 8-3 to Wenatchee in WCL title game.

Outfielder Nathan Blackham (pictured) of Washington State had two hits, an RBI and threw a runner out at home but the Knights dropped Game 3 of the WCL Championship Series.

The Knights faced their share of challenges and a determined AppleSox club on the final day of the 2012 season. Host Wenatchee erupted for 14 hits and parlayed a tough twilight inning into a 8-3 victory.

A Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium crowd of 1,070 celebrated as the Knights (40-24) lost three fly balls in the twilight, threw four wild pitches and ended a potential late-inning rally with a baserunning error in the club's first WCL Championship Series Game 3 in team history.

It was the fifth WCL title for the AppleSox, who also were champions in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. It was also the second time they�d defeated the Knights in the finals; they prevailed in 2009 after losing to Corvallis in 2008.

Second baseman Chris Rabago of UC Irvine collected two hits and an RBI; Nate Roberts of Seattle and Marc Gallegos of Corban had two hits each for the Knights.

Corvallis fell in a big first-inning hole for the second time in the series when the AppleSox roughed up starter Trevor Frank of UC Riverside for three hits and three runs, aided by two walks and a wild pitch, to surge ahead early.

The Knights fought back furiously in the top of second, rallying for three runs themselves to tie the game on RBI singles by Rabago and Blackham and Connor Hofmann's sacrifice fly. But Frank � who entered the game with a 0.47 ERA � was not as sharp as usual and the AppleSox went back ahead with single runs in the second and third.

"He wasn't as sharp as he's been, but I still thought he had plenty of stuff to get it done," Knight said of Frank. "Those three early runs hurt, but we had plenty of arms lined up behind him."

Corvallis battled the twilight in the fourth, which cost them three runs. With one out, the Knights lost three popups or fly balls in the tough sky and all fell for hits. The third came with two runners on, landed behind Hofmann in center field and became a 3-run inside-the-park homer for Taylor Sparks of UC Irvine to give Wenatchee an insurmountable 8-3 advantage.

"There's always that 10-to-15 minute window when you get that twilight behind home plate and it makes it tough to see on balls hit straight up," Knight said. "We needed to do a little bit more to help ourselves than we did tonight."

Knights' three-year veteran pitcher Max Beatty of PLU completed his remarkable recovery from off-season cancer by throwing 3.1 innings of scoreless relief. He struck out three and kept the deficit from growing any larger.

The Knights lost for the third time in five Championship Series appearances. They swept Wenatchee in 2008 and Walla Walla in 2011l and were swept by Moses Lake in 2007 and Wenatchee in 2010 in their other finals.