Knights blank Pirates 6-0 to take series before crowd of 1,367.

Matt Boyd (pictured) of Oregon State went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and pitched a scoreless inning of relief, striking out the side.

Corvallis extended its winning streak to 5 and moved 2 1/2 games ahead of Kitsap and gained a game on first place Bend as the Elks lost in extra-innings at Walla Walla. The Knights are now 1 1/2 games behind the Elks and 22-14 in the WCL.

Knights' starter Kyle Kraus tossed 4 1/3 innings of shutout ball and struck out 5. He was lifted in the fifth inning due to injury, and replaced by PLU frosh Max Beatty, a recent Knights' sign.

Beatty pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball, inducing two double plays, to earn the win in his debut with Corvallis.

"It was my first time out and I did well, just got some double plays, threw pitches, just did what I needed to do and threw strikes," said Beatty.

"The guys are cool. I feel real welcomed, it's nice."

Chris Mendoza of Santa Clara pitched a scoreless seventh, Boyd put up a goose egg in the eighth and Miles Kizer of UW finished up for Corvallis pitching a scoreless ninth (while striking out 3) in his first pitching appearance of the season.

"I felt really good," said Matt Boyd. "I worked on some things the last few days with the coaches and brought them into the game. I just tried to stay consistent up on the mound and the plate. I felt like I brought those things into the game pretty well."

"You never want to give up the ball, but Miles came out there and struck out the side. It's good to have someone behind you like that."

Boyd continued, "We're playing consistent baseball right now, good approaches at the plate, playing good defense, you know our pitching is always there, things are going to be good. We definitely have the makings to win this thing so we're just going to go out there and try to go hard every day."

The Knights go for the sweep at Goss Stadium on Saturday night. Game time is 6:35 pm.

You can catch the game on KEJO 1240 AM. Mike Parker and Jason Schwartz call all the action.