Knights stunned 9-6 by Gems' rally in ninth inning.

Reliever Angel Landazuri (pictured) threw three perfect innings to position Corvallis for its fourth straight win but the Gems scored five times in the ninth on Friday to prevail 9-6.

Thomas Walker's grand slam off reliever Sean Eberhardt (George Fox), his second homer of the game, capped the comeback at Kiger Stadium.

The Gems (12-34) trailed 6-4 heading into the ninth, when Joey Wise (Grand Canyon) replaced Landazuri (UC Riverside), who had one strikeout and 19 strikes in 25 pitches. A walk, a bunt single and an infield hit scored one run to cut the lead to 6-5.

Wise then issued another walk to load the bases. Eberhardt relieved and Walker then hit his grand slam on a 2-2 pitch.

The Knights (34-16 all, 30-16 WCL) jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first but the Gems scored twice in the second and twice more in the third to surge in front 4-2. However, the Knights replied with four runs in the sixth to knock out Gems' starter Michael Briska.

Kevin Kline (Dixie State) drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Michael Lucarelli's (Portland) two-out RBI single tied the game 4-4. Phil Leopold (Bellarmine) followed with his second homer of the season for a 6-4 lead; both homers came at Kiger Stadium.

Corvallis starter Derrick Mahlum (Pacific Lutheran) settled down after giving up the back-to-back two-spots and finished with two scoreless innings before being relieved after five innings. He had three strikeouts and allowed four runs on seven hits.

The Knights missed a chance to extend their South Division lead over Bend, which lost 9-5 to Medford. Corvallis still leads by four games with eight remaining.

The series resumes at 6:35 p.m. Saturday. Jackson Lockwood (7-2, 2.54) of Portland will start for the Knights, opposed by Fresno Pacific's Tanner Irwin (2-4, 6.06) in a matchup of right-handers.