Whalen's grand slam leads Knights over Toros 13-1.

Caleb Whalen (pictured) hit a grand slam, doubled and drove in five runs to power Corvallis past the WCL Portland Toros in a nonleague game at Goss Stadium.

A sophomore-to-be at Portland, Whalen walked with the bases loaded in the second to give the Knights a 3-1 lead. He then crushed their third grand slam of the summer when he came up with the bases loaded again in the fourth inning for an 8-1 advantage.

"I probably haven't hit a grand slam since I was 12 years old in Little League" in his hometown of Vancouver, Wash., Whalen said. "It felt good off the bat," and easily cleared the taller portion of the left-field fence.

The Knights (24-20 WCL, 29-20) hit two homers and seven doubles for a team-high nine extra-base hits. They thus swept the two-game weekend series and finished the summer 4-0 vs. WCL Portland clubs and 5-0 against all nonleague opponents.

"It feels the team is definitely back on track," after a July tailspin that saw its West Division lead reduced from 7.5 games at its zenith to one-half game on July 19, Barker said."We're hitting the ball better and our confidence is definitely going up."

Starter Carlos Rodriguez struck out nine, spaced five hits and allowed one run in five innings for the victory. Kyle Hart, Antonio Gonzales, Devon Barker and Taylor Starr finished up with a scoreless inning each; the staff combined for 17 strikeouts.

Nick Torres homered, doubled and had two RBIs and Nate Roberts, Chris Rabago, Marc Gallegos, Greg Mahle and Alex Michaels added two hits apiece.

The Knights resume WCL action on Monday in the opener of a three-game series with the Kitsap BlueJackets. Their next home league games are Thursday through Saturday against Cowlitz.