Knights can't hold late lead. Corvallis loses finale 4-3 vs. Sox and first WCCBL series.

Corvallis left 12 men on base and Wenatchee erased a 3-2 deficit late by scoring two runs in the eighth, the game-winner on a suicide squeeze play. Outfielder Jake Roy (pictured) of Dakota Wesleyan went 3 for 4 raising his average to a team leading .356. Starter JR Murphy of San Diego State took his first loss.

Corvallis took a 3-1 lead in the 4th as the Knights scored three runs off ex-Knight Josh Keller of OSU. The key blow was a two-out, two-run triple by Clayton Shaw of UP. Shaw scored the Knights third run on Josh Hogan's two-out double.

Murphy gave up an unearned run in the fifth and ran into trouble in the eighth. Zach Mandelblatt of Pomona-Pitzer singled to start the inning. Mandelblatt, a product of Lake Oswego High School, went 5 for 7 with 3 doubles and a triple in the Sox two wins vs. the Knights. After a sacrifice bunt, Sox third baseman Hawkins Gebbers of Biola executed a perfect drag bunt for a single. Vinnie Catricala of University of Hawaii, a second-team All-WAC pick this past spring, followed with a sharp single to center to plate the tying run. Following Catricala's single, head coach Matt Dorey called on Murphy's Aztec teammate Mike Koons to hold the lead.

The Sox pulled off a double steal on Koons' first pitch. After a walk to load the bases, pinch-hitter Jason Chatwood pushed home the game-winner with a suicide squeeze bunt.

The Knights' bullpen struggled at Wenatchee blowing two saves and failing to hold the Sox in the finale. The Sox late-inning magic produced runs in every 8th inning for a total of 5 eighth-inning runs. Wenatchee also erased a deficit in game one with 3 runs in the 7th.

The Corvallis pitching staff is hurting as Brett Brunner of PLU is still sidelined (the lefty hasn't pitched for over a week), Jerad Thompson of Mt. Hood CC might be done for the summer (MRI pending) and Lewis-Clark State College ace Matt Fitts has yet to throw a pitch (tendinitis). With 9 games in 8 days on the road, the timing couldn't be worse as the Knights are down to nine available arms.

Southpaw Blake Keitzman of OSU is expected to join the team in Spokane on Thursday. His addition is much anticipated.

Catcher Rocky Gale of University of Portland got his first rest of the WCCBL season as junior Ryan Sussenguth of Concordia got his first league start. Sussenguth doubled in his first at bat.

Wenatchee has now won five straight series vs. the Knights since 2005. As a member of the WCCBL, the Knights have not won a single series vs. the Sox.

Nick Akins of Riverside CC led off the sixth inning with a ringing double, but was ruled out for missing first base chugging hard for second.

Shortstop Drew Garcia of University of California, Riverside continued to struggle at the plate as he went 0 for 4 dropping his season average to .150 (6 for 40). Garcia left 6 men on base.

Corvallis heads to Spokane Thursday to play a three-game series vs. the 4-8 RiverHawks. Mike Parker, the voice of the Beavers, is set to call all the action Thursday night from Gonzaga's beautiful new Patterson Baseball Complex. Game time is 7 pm. Tune in tommorrow to hear Mike Parker's play-by-play on 990 AM The Legend.

4,038 Sox fans attended Wenatchee's three-game series with Corvallis.

With the loss, Corvallis drops to 9-3 (and 13-5 overall), but still leads the West and is tied for the league's best record with 9-3 Moses Lake.