Most of Saturday’s game was a dual on the mound between Bellingham and Corvallis, but the game was ultimately won with a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the ninth as the Bells’ Mike Chiarelli drove in the pinch-running Garrett DeRooy to give Bellingham the 2-1 victory.

Corvallis starter Sam Gaviglio was in place to pick up his first win of the season after an outstanding performance on the bump as he threw seven scoreless innings and left with a 1-0 lead. But his efforts were quickly erased as Knights reliever Chad Jones gave up a leadoff walk in the eighth inning to Bellingham’s Beau Brett. The Bells worked Brett around the bases and eventually scored on a Sam Richter single to set up Chiarelli’s heroic at-bat in the ninth.

Alex Besaw nearly matched Gaviglio’s efforts on the mound by tossing 6 innings while giving up just one fourth-inning run to the Knights. Mitch Ludke came in to pitch the final three innings for the Bells and gave up just one hit en route to picking up his first win of the season.

“Besaw really kept us in this game tonight,” said Bells head coach Brandon Newell. “We knew we needed to pick up a win and we found a way to do it.”

Gaviglio faced the minimum through 5 2/3 innings despite giving up three hits, but the Bells stuck to the game plan and plated single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to improve to 2-3 on the season in West Coast League action.

Kevin Whitehead spear-headed the ninth inning rally for Bellingham with a leadoff double down the left field line. He advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Rhett Fenton before DeRooy came in to pinch run and later score the game winner.

The Bells and Knights return to Joe Martin Field Sunday afternoon for the rubber-match game of this three-game series. Saturday is Youth Baseball Day at the ballpark as Bells coaches and players will be offering a free Youth Baseball Clinic starting at 2 p.m.