Bells rally to beat Knights 5-4 to salvage series finale at Joe Martin Stadium.
July 30, 2009
Slugger Taylor Ard (pictured) belted a two-run home run to give Corvallis the early 3-0 lead.
But UC Irvine right-hander Nick Hoover, in his final appearance of the summer, faltered in the fifth and surrendered the lead.
The junior-to be leaves for Southern California on Friday as Hoover has to attend summer school.
After throwing four scoreless innings, Hoover walked the first two batters of the fifth-inning on eight pitches and then gave up back-to-back RBI singles.
Head coach Brooke Knight called on reliever Trevor Smith of Linn-Benton CC to stop the bleeding, but Smith gave up a two-run single and the Bells scored their final run on a throwing error by catcher Rocky Gale of UP on a steal attempt of third base.
The one big inning by the Bells doomed the Knights.
Corvallis collected 10 hits, but bounced into 2 double plays and left 8 men on base.
Taylor Ard blasted his team-leading 5th home run in the top of the fifth to put the Knights up 3-0.
Centerfielder Pat Colwell of San Diego State went 3-for-4 and singled in a run in the fourth.
Gale plated the Knights' fourth run in the 8th-inning on a two-out double that scored pinch-runner Brent Warren of OSU from first base.
Hoover took the loss and finished the summer 0-1 with 4.00 ERA over 18 innings pitched and 8 appearances.
Corvallis travels to Bend on Friday to face the WCL West second-place Elks at Vince Genna Stadium.
You can listen to the entire series on KEJO 1240 AM. Mike Parker - the voice of the Beavers and Knights - calls all the action.
