Bloomquist, Perez team up for 4-1 Fireworks victory.

Starter Casey Bloomquist (pictured) went a season-high eight innings for the victory and Jorge Perez notched his fifth save on Wednesday as the Knights edged Bellingham 3-1 at Goss Stadium.

A sellout crowd of 2,930 on Fireworks Night saw the Knights (15-12 all, 14-12 WCL) score single runs in their last four at-bats in an efficient use of their four hits. Blake Drake, Peter Van Gansen, Chris Rabago and Gabe Clark had their RBIs; no one had more than one hit, or an extra-base hit.

A sophomore-to-be at Cal Poly, Bloomquist became the midweek starter about halfway through the spring and went 6-2 in 10 starts. On Wednesday he spaced nine hits, neatly pitched out of several jams, didn't issue a walk and had six strikeouts.

His 83-pitch performance resulted in his staff-best third win in as many decisions.

"I feel like I've been preparing myself, and I was ready for it," said Bloomquist, whose previous long stint was seven innings on June 26 in Bend, his last start.

His best escape act came in the seventh with the Knights protecting a 2-1 lead. The Bells had runners on the corner with no outs, but a strikeout and 4-unassisted, 4-3 double play started by Seth Heck ended the rally.

"I was just trying to get out of it, and just trying to give my team a chance," Bloomquist said. "Everything worked out for the better."

Perez had four saves in the Knights' first 15 games but had not pitched since spraining his ankle in pre-game warmups on June 21. He showed no rust from the layoff, though, and retired the Bells 1-2-3 on 18 pitches for his fifth save. He still has not given up a run in 6.1 innings.

It was the fifth loss in a row for the Bells (11-11). The series concludes at 6:05 p.m. today with a matchup of left-handers; Andrew Naderer (2-0, 0.64) is the probable for the Knights, Andrew Olson (0-1, 2.25) for the Bells.