Choate saves 2-1 win at Medford in series opener.

Knights' closer Brandon Choate (pictured) escaped a big jam in the bottom of the ninth on Friday night to save a 2-1 win over the Rogues.

The Knights (39-18 all, 34-18 WCL) ended their two-game losing streak in the opener of their final regular-season series. They start postseason play on Tuesday, against a to-be-determined foe.

Corvallis scored the winning run in the top of the ninth without a hit. Jackson Soto (West Albany HS/Oregon State in 2014-15) walked leading off; pinch-runner Tim Rausch (Western Oregon) moved to third on a sacrifice and a wild pitch, and came home on Joe Duffin's (Cypress College/UConn in 2014-15) sacrifice fly.

Medford's (25-27) Adonis Morrison greeted Choate with a triple leading off the home ninth but Choate fanned Levi Pereira for the first out. Morrison was retired by catcher Logan Ice (OSU) in a rundown after a botched squeeze play with Yuto Kata at bat for the second out. Kata then grounded out to end the game.

A rising senior at Washington, Choate has a team-high nine saves and has pitched 15.2 consecutive scoreless innings in his last 13 appearances. In that span he has eight of his nine saves and has lowered his ERA to 0.79.

The Knights scored their other run in the seventh on a single by Kevin Farley (Portland), two stolen bases by pinch-runner Scott Quinlan (UC Santa Barbara) and an infield error on a grounder that should have been an inning-ending double-play ball. Farley singled twice and was the lone Knight with more than one hit.

Medford quickly tied the game in the home half on Kyle Beam's two-out, solo homer off reliever Merrick Patito (Chaffey College). Beam has two homers this summer, both against the Knights.

Corvallis starter Derrick Mahlum (Pacific Lutheran) struck out the first five Rogues and had six overall while allowing one hit in three innings. Reliever Sean Eberhardt (George Fox) added three more scoreless frames before giving way to Patito, who pitched the seventh and eighth and got the win.

The series resumes at 6:35 p.m. Saturday. Jason Snodgrass (3-1, 4.33) of Concordia is the scheduled starter for the Knights, opposed by Tyler Bennett (0-2, 9.22) of Corban.