REDMOND — Bend High just made the Intermountain Conference baseball race a little more interesting.

Caleb Gardner scattered four runs over seven innings as the Lava Bears topped Redmond 10-4 on Friday to win the three-game series against the league-leading Panthers, 2-1. Bend (11-7 overall, 3-3 5A IMC) now sits one game back of Redmond (12-5, 4-2) in the IMC standings. Both squads still have a three-game league series with Mountain View left on their schedules.

Gardner allowed eight hits and struck out three against four walks, but shut out the Panthers in their final three innings after the Bears took a 5-4 lead in the top of the fourth inning.

Jonah Koski had a monster day at the plate for Bend, going 4-for-5 with a double and three runs batted in. Kyle Bailey added a 3-for-4 performance and Justin Erlandson went 1-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs and three runs scored.

Daniel Thomas took the loss for Redmond, which before its series against Bend had won nine straight games. Thomas, who went five innings, was done in by a shaky defense behind him. Of the eight runs he gave up, only two were earned. By the end of the game, the Panthers had committed six errors.

J.D. Abbas paced Redmond in the defeat, going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Also, Matt Dahlen went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBIs for Redmond.