Knights lose two in Kelowna, 7-3, 2-0.

They were the sixth and seventh losses in row for Corvallis (18-13 WCL, 19-13 all), which saw its once-comfortable lead over Bend in the West Division reduced to two games. Corvallis lost all six games in the road trip and never came to bat with the lead in 47 innings.

Corvallis starter Rob Dittrick allowed two runs on six innings in the nightcap to suffer his first loss of the summer after three wins. He struck out four, gave up just three hits, but Kelowna bunched a walk, an RBI double and a sacrifice fly in the fifth for the game's only two runs.

The Knights had runners in almost every inning but either could not get a clutch hit, or made a costly baserunning blunder, and were shut out for the third time in their past six games.

Greg Mahle and Matt Nylen had two hits each. Corvallis stranded eight runners and had another thrown out trying to steal third with runners on second and first with no outs in a scoreless game.

In the opener, the Knights rallied for three runs in the sixth to trim a 5-0 lead to 5-3 and had the tying runs in scoring position with one out. However, as was the case throughout the road trip, they did not deliver when it counted and Kelowna scored twice in the bottom half to lock it up.

Mahle singled, doubled and drove in a run but he also gave up the four-spot in the fifth inning in relief of starter and loser Dylan Stuart. Austin Hamilton also singled and doubled.

Bend swept a doubleheader against Wenatchee on Saturday to draw within two games. The Elks can draw even closer on Sunday as they complete their series with Wenatchee while the Knights are idle.

The Knights return to Corvallis on Sunday and begin a three-game home series against Wenatchee at 6:40 p.m. Monday. Their projected starting rotation is right-handers Bryan Granger of Cal Poly on Monday, AJ Burke of Western Oregon on Tuesday and Max Beatty of Pacific Lutheran on Wednesday.

Game 1 box: http://westcoast.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=64426

Game 2 box: http://westcoast.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=64425