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McLaughlin, Bobnick, Cusick and Stilley combine to blank Gresham at Goss 2-0.

July 24, 2008

McLaughlin, Bobnick, Cusick and Stilley combine to blank Gresham at Goss 2-0.

James McLaughlin (pictured) of San Diego State tossed six shutout innings to earn his team leading 4th win. Frosh southpaw David Stilley of Washington State pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the game and earn his second save. Greg Bobnick and Michael Cusick, both of Western Oregon, pitched the seventh and eighth, respectively, allowing no hits and no runs.

Designated hitter Kyle Stalker of Willamette led the offense going 3 for 4 in the Knights' 2-0 victory over the Gresham Mountaineers.

"I have been working a lot lately over the (all-star) break on shortening up my swing," Stalker said. "I am just trying to get the ball in play and let it find some grass."

Thursday night's super hero was McLaughlin as the senior-to be right-hander threw six innings of one hit baseball.

631 fans came out for Super Heroes Night presented by Corvallis Family Medicine.

A great defensive play by Knights' centerfielder Adam Melker of Cal Poly and catcher Travis Anderson of Feather River College kept Gresham off the board in the third. With runners at first and second and one out, McLaughlin fielded a comebacker and threw it into to center for an error. Melker fielded the errant throw and cut down the Mountaineers runner trying to score from second thanks to a great block of home plate by Anderson.

The Knights finally tallied a run in the fifth off soft throwing left-hander Ryan Smith of Chemeketa CC on a two-out infield error allowing Doug Cherry of UW to score from second. The error was one of five on the night by Gresham.

Corvallis scored again in the sixth. Melker bunted, beat the throw to first and advanced to second when the throw sailed past first baseman Brett Davis of Mt. Hood CC. After advancing to third on a groundout by Anderson, Melker scored on a groundout to short by Oklahoma State frosh first baseman Dean Green.

"It is sometimes hard to come out for these non-league games so it is good to come out and get the win tonight," said Stalker.

Corvallis registered its 8th shutout of the season.

"We got a good performance on the hill," Knights' head coach Brooke Knight said. "Mac threw real well and the three guys behind him did a nice job. We are going to need more energy this weekend though or we are going to get our backside handed to us."

The Knights face the Wenatchee AppleSox Friday night. The three-game set pits division leaders and league aces Steve Ames, a junior-to be at Gonzaga, of Wenatchee and Ryan Platt, a senior-to be at UC Riverside, of Corvallis. Ames and Platt are Friday night's probable starters.

With the win, Corvallis improves to 24-11 overall.

Mike Parker, the voice of the Knights, returns to the mic Friday night. Catch the entire series on 990 AM The Legend.