Knights blank Sweets for third win in a row.

Corvallis shortstop Marc Gallegos (pictured) had three hits, two steals and drove in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning single to key the 2-0 win.

Pitchers Bryan Granger, Blake Burrell and Brandon Jackson teamed up for a four-hit shutout, the Knights' (7-4 WCL, 7-4 overall) second in a row. They combined for 10 strikeouts and retired the final 11 Sweets in order.

Corvallis won its third straight and picked up one-half game on Bend in the West Division standings; they trail the idle Elks by one game. Walla Walla (3-7) lost its fourth game in a row and is 0-4 on its current road trip.

The Knights had at least one baserunner in every inning through the sixth and advanced four to third base, but could not score until they broke through with two runs in the seventh, with some help from the Sweets.

Austin Hamilton walked, stole second, was balked to third and scored on a single by Gallegos. Tyler Campbell's sacrifice fly then scored Caylen Clardy, who also walked and advanced to third on a steal and Gallegos' single.

"There were no outs, so anything I hit to the outfield would RBI, so I did my best to hit it out there," Gallegos said. "It didn't go as far as I thought it would but it was far enough to get the run in."

Granger, of Cal Poly, was impressive in his Knights debut. He allowed no runs and three hits in five innings, with three strikeouts and only one walk. Walla Wall had runners at the corners with no outs in the fifth, but a Granger used a pickoff, a strikeout and a groundout to escape unscathed.

Burrell, of UC Riverside, added two scoreless innings. Jackson, an Oregon State signee from Roseburg who played at Western Nevada JC, struck out five of the six Sweets he faced for the save. It was the second combined shutout in a row for the pitching staff, which extended its scoreless streak to 20 consecutive innings over the past three games.

The Knights stole seven bases; Gallegos and Hamilton had two apiece. They now have 35 steals in 41 attempts this season and lead the West Coast League by a large margin.

The series continues at 6:40 p.m. Thursday and Friday. The projected starting pitchers on Thursday are Max Beatty of PLU (0-0, 0.00) for the Knights and Tyler Roberts of Campbellsville (0-0, 3.60) for the Sweets. Friday's probable are Jorge Perez of Grand Canyon (1-1, 1.64) for the Knights and Doug Ashby of Baylor (0-0, 8.10) for the Sweets.