Bend barrels past Black Bears to even series

Mason Edwards continued his shutout summer en route to the Elks 10th win in their last 11 games. (Andrew Forhan)

Longview, OR - Bend had a resilient response to the end of its season long nine game win streak, barreling past the Cowlitz Black Bears Wednesday 11-2, evening the series at David Story Field.

After being limited to just one run the night prior, the Elks came out blazing in the middle game, scoring four runs in the first on a pair of two-out two RBI hits by Jace Miller and Alejandro Cazorla.

Bend would then benefit from seven Black Bears errors over the next eight innings, tacking on an unearned run in the fourth on a Luke Reece RBI groundout.

The Elks would then rally for four runs again in the sixth frame on a Cole Calnon two-run single, and Ty Johnson RBI base hit plus an Abbrie Covarrubias unearned run that came in to score.

Bend spotted a couple more runs to top it off in the seventh on another Calnon RBI knock aided by an error that allowed for the additional run.

Mason Edwards (1-0), meanwhile, was tossing a gem on the mound. The USC standout threw six scoreless innings and a season-high eight strikeouts.

Edwards is one of four Elks that will represent Bend at next week's West Coast League All-Star Game in Bellingham.

The Elks bullpen carried the shutout into the ninth inning for the third time in the last four games.

But ultimately Bend, like the previous two nights, would be unable to go the full distance clean as Cowlitz brought a pair of runs across to prevent the shutout.

Neverthless, Bend still scored double digit runs four the seventh time this season and held its opponent to two-runs or fewer for the sixth occasion this summer.

The Elks will look to win their second rubber game of the summer against the Black Bears on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. at David Story Field.