Bend breaks out the brooms in Bellingham
Easton Talt was amongst the many Elks who played an essential role in Bend sweeping the Bells. (Andrew Forhan)
Bellingham, WA - Bend went out with a bang in Bellingham, ringing up the Bells for 11 runs to complete the road sweep for a fabulous ending to the first half on the Fourth of July.
The comeback kids of Central Oregon pulled off their third consecutive come-from-behind win, outscoring Bellingham (17-13, 17-13)) by ten over the final eight innings to take the Independence Day finale 11-4.
The Bells made a loud noise in the first on a three-run blast by Tom Poole that put Bellingham up 3-0 early.
But the Elks would echo with nearly three times the Ella number of runs, pulling back even in the third on a three-spot spread across a Jace Miller score on a past ball, Tyler Peterson RBI walk and Easton Talt sac line out.
Bend would build a mountainous lead in the middle frames, scoring six runs across the fourth, fifth, and sixth, including RBI hits by Tyler Peterson, Talt and Easton Amundson.
Meanwhile, Tyler Wood (2-1) was dominating on the hill. The Elks' leader strikeouts
was punching out Bells left and right, waving six hitters, and retiring the final nine Bellingham batters he faced.
The U.C. Davis standout has now struck out 25 opposing hitters this season.
After the three-run blast by Poole to start the game, the Bend bullpen built up its callus, shell-shocking the Bells by holding them scoreless over the subsequent seven frames.
Amundson placed the nail in Bellingham’s coffin with a two-run base hit in the ninth, marking the former Bell’s team-leading sixth hit of the weekend.
The Elks have now scored double-digit runs four times this season and are riding a season-long six-game win streak into the second half.
Bend finishes the first half within the West Coast League playoff picture, sitting in third place in the south division. At the end of the 54-game WCL regular season, the first-half and second-half south division winners, plus the following two teams with the best overall records, will qualify for the postseason.
Bend begins its back half of the summer and quest at its first playoff berth since the Elks won their lone WCL championship in 2015 Friday against the Yakima Valley Pippins. Come out and enjoy the beautiful Bend weather with some Elks baseball! Get your tickets now!
