Corvallis drops series to Elks, loses 1-0 heartbreaker at Bend in 10 innings.

Reliever Nick Hoover (pictured) of UC Irvine tossed five innings of scoreless ball and struck out 4.

Closer Mitch Patito of UC Riverside was forced to start when Evan Brock of UC Irvine was scratched for precautionary reasons following his warmup in the bullpen.

Patito was rushed to get ready as Brock was deemed not healthy to pitch right before Bend was due to bat in the bottom of the first.

Mitch pitched three innings of shutout ball and allowed only one hit while walking four.

Southpaw Ben Guidos of University of Washington, a former Knight, stymied Corvallis for 9 innings in a game that was well pitched by both sides and that also featured stellar defense.

Both teams put pressure on each other, but neither club would crack in a classic battle between the two long-time rivals. It appeared the Elks would blink first in the top of the tenth when Corvallis loaded the bases with one out off reliever Jacob Clem of UW.

Outfielders Michael Blake of Mt. Hood CC and Mitch Haniger of Cal Poly greeted Clem with singles. After rightfielder Daniel Dillard of Western Oregon grounded into a fielder's choice, catcher Miles Kizer of University of Washington was hit by a pitch by Clem to load the bases.

Pitching coach Scott Anderson of Bend, who took over for Elks' skipper Sean Kinney when Kinney was ejected by field umpire Kendall Snyder for arguing a close play at first on Blake's lead-off infield single, then turned to Cal right-hander Joey Donofrio to face OSU frosh-to-be Jake Rodriguez.

Donofrio quickly got the Elks out of trouble by inducing a routine double play grounder to third that for a moment looked like Bend botched allowing the Knights to score the game's first run.

Third baseman Evan Busby of Cal Poly fielded Rodriguez's ground ball, threw to home for the inning's second out, and then catcher Mitch Karraker of Oregon threw the ball errantly to first (hitting Rodriguez) allowing a run to score and Rodriguez to reach safely. But Rodriguez was called out for interference (for running inside the baseline), ending the inning and negating the run.

With momentum, Bend shortstop Tyler Smith of Oregon State bested his Beavers' teammate Matt Boyd of the Knights by leading off with a two-strike double down the leftfield line.

Donald Collins of St. Mary's would follow Smith's hit with a perfectly placed bunt single, and after Busby walked to load the bases, designated hitter Tommy Richards of Washington State delivered a walk-off RBI single, a sharply hit base hit between Rodriguez and shortstop Justin Viele of Santa Clara.

Boyd, who pitched a scoreless ninth, picked up the loss.

Blake went 2-for-4.

Corvallis is now 0-3 in extra inning contests.

With the defeat, the Knights drop to 17-14 in league and 21-14 overall. Corvallis is in second place in the WCL West, a half-game ahead of Kitsap (17-15) and Bellingham (19-17).

The Knights return to Goss Stadium on Monday to open a three-game series with the expansion Cowlitz Black Bears.

You can listen to all the Knights' games on KEJO 1240 AM. Mike Parker and Jason Schwartz call the play-by-play.