Corvallis Gazette-Times


CORVALLIS — The Corvallis Knights positioned themselves for their sixth consecutive series win on Saturday by blanking Kitsap 6-0 in a West Coast Collegiate Baseball League game at Goss Stadium.

A Bobblehead Night crowd of 710 watched Oregon State signee Logan Lotti homer, triple, single and drive in four runs in support of lefty Jared Eskew, who allowed just five singles over seven innings.

A WCCBL all-star like Lotti, Eskew struck out five, didn’t walk anyone and lowered his ERA from 1.29 to 0.96.

Lotti drove in Doug Cherry in the first with a single and Cherry again scored ahead of him in the fifth on his two-run homer over the left-field fence. Lotti then tripled home another run in the seventh.

Corvallis High grad Billy Clontz drove in two runs for Corvallis (20-9), which ended a three-game losing streak and moved 5 1/2 games ahead of the BlueJackets in the West Division. The Knights lead second-place Bend, which was idle, by 41/2 games.

Lotti has a team-high four homers and is two behind Clontz in the race for the team lead with 17 RBIs.

The Knights and Kitsap close the first half of the WCCBL season at 5 p.m. today in the series finale. Projected starts are Washington right-hander Paul Dickey (1-5, 6.06) for the BlueJackets, opposed by OSU lefty Josh Osich (1-0, 1.53).

The Knights are off Monday and eight players will head to Moses Lake for Tuesday night’s WCCBL All-Star Game, set for 7:30 p.m. at Larson Stadium. They are pitchers Jon Berger of San Diego State; Ryan Platt and Eddie Orozco (2-0, 0.45) of UC Riverside; Eskew, and Taylor Starr of OSU; Lotti, of Sierra College, Clontz, of Mt. Hood CC, a Corvallis High graduate, and infielder Josh Hogan of Mt. Hood CC.

Hogan had missed the Knights’ last four games with a wrist injury but he returned to the lineup on Saturday.

The Knights open the second half at 6:35 p.m. Thursday against their Gresham affiliate team at Goss Stadium. They then play host to East Division leader Wenatchee at 6:35 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 1 p.m. on July 27, also at Goss Stadium.

Friday is Knight Financial Hat Night.

Corvallis 6, Kitsap 0

KITSAP 000 000 000 — 0 5 2

CORVALLIS 101 020 20x — 6 7 1

Sean Greer, Jeff Brooks (8) and Lawson Hipps; Jared Eskew, Ben Rue (8), Chris Brookey (9) and Alex Burg. WP: Eskew 2-0, L: Greer 0-3. 3B: Lotti, C. HR: Lotti, C.

Hits: Kitsap 5 (Baskett, Aona, Hipps, Decker, Heere), Corvallis 7 (Lotti 3, Cherry, Jimenez, Clontz, Bridges).

RBI: Kitsap 0; Corvallis 6 (Lotti 4, Clontz 2).