Corvallis drops sloppy contest at Bend 8-5.

Taylor Starr of OSU (pictured) tossed three scoreless innings of relief and the Knights made things interesting late down 7-0 by scoring 5 runs in the 6th.

Bend jumped on Corvallis early knocking Knights' starter Carlos Rodriguez of OSU out in the second inning, and extended their lead to 7-0 in the fifth on a grand slam homer by Elks' leftfielder Zane Yansick of OSU off WCL All-Star reliever Rob Dittrick.

Bend southpaw Jordan Spencer of Oregon recorded the save by pitching a scoreless final frame.

The win went to Daniel Chavez who pitched five shutout innings and allowed only one hit.

Corvallis mounted a rally in the sixth off the Bend bullpen.

Caleb Whalen of Portland led off the inning with a double and the Knights got RBI singles from Greg Mahle of UCSB, WCL All-Star Austin Barr and Dane Lund of Mt. Hood CC. But Corvallis left runners on base as Conor Hofmann of Oregon and Whalen grounded out to end the inning much to the delight of the Bend crowd of 2,011 at Vince Genna Stadium.

With the 8-5 win, Bend (18-16) closes on Corvallis (21-16) and is now only 1.5 games back of the Knights. They also take a 2-1 lead in the five-game series with the Knights. The final two games will be played at Goss Stadium.

Corvallis will now look to break its 8-game road losing streak at Kitsap July 30-August 1.

First pitch for tomorrow night's game is 6:40 pm. Cal Poly right-hander Bryan Granger will start for Corvallis.