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Bend High’s Lewis Knapp gets congratulated by a team mate after scoring a run, during the Bend High vs. Caldera baseball game at Caldera High School in Bend Tuesday afternoon. 4-15-25

Bend High’s 3, keeps his eye on the ball as he hits for a base run during the Bend High vs. Caldera baseball game at Caldera High School in Bend Tuesday afternoon. 4-15-25

Caldera’s Camden Hartlaub connects for a base hit during the Bend High vs. Caldera baseball game at Caldera High School in Bend Tuesday afternoon. 4-15-25

Bend High’s Cash Hattenhauer slaps hands and gets congratulated by a team mate after scoring a run, during the Bend High vs. Caldera baseball game at Caldera High School in Bend Tuesday afternoon. 4-15-25

Caldera celebrates after a scoring a point during the Bend High vs. Caldera baseball game at Caldera High School in Bend Tuesday afternoon. 4-15-25

Caldera’s Josiah Moyes, gets connection for a base hit during the Bend High vs. Caldera baseball game at Caldera High School in Bend Tuesday afternoon. 4-15-25

Caldera’s Isaac Price, right, throws a pitch for a Bend high batter during the Bend High vs. Caldera baseball game at Caldera High School in Bend Tuesday afternoon. 4-15-25

Bend High’s pitcher Cash Hattenhauer releases a throw for a Caldera batter during the Bend High vs. Caldera baseball game at Caldera High School in Bend Tuesday afternoon. 4-15-25

In the top of the sixth inning with a runner on first and one out, and with Bend High clinging to a 6-5 lead, junior catcher Kaden Cooper was given a sign to lay down a sacrifice bunt to move the runner into scoring position.

A seemingly small play at Caldera on Tuesday turned into a big moment that encompasses the season that the Lava Bears have had through their first 12 games.

Cooper was thrown out at first, but the action was taking place on the base path between second and third base. Senior pitcher Cash Hattenhauer had rounded second, and noticed that third base was left unoccupied and sprinted toward the bag. An errant throw on the dash to third brought Hattenhauer home to score.

Bend (9-3 overall, 1-0 IMC) went on to beat Caldera (2-6, 0-1) 11-7 on the Wolfpack’s home diamond in the Intermountain Conference opener.

“One of the things we talk about in our program is treating the little things like big things,” said Lava Bear coach Quinn Clair. “The little things make things happen. I’m proud of our kids for doing what the team needs.”

Hattenhauer struck out six batters in five innings of work on the mound. The Lava Bears reached base 22 times in the game, collecting 10 hits as a team and drawing 11 walks. Six different hitters drove in a run with senior designated hitter Fischer Barber, junior first baseman Spencer Dildine, junior left fielder Lewis Knapp and junior second baseman Mason Pendergast each driving in two runs.

Despite trailing for most of the game, the Wolfpack stayed in the game in large part to junior first baseman Brody Whitcomb driving in four runs on three hits. Each time it looked like the Lava Bears would pull away, like leading 6-0 in the third inning, or 11-5 going into the bottom of the seventh, the Wolfpack found a way to chip away at the lead.

But the Lava Bears were simply too good at the plate and the Wolfpack ran out of outs.

“It is a vast difference from last year as far as our run production is concerned,” Clair said. “We battled tough at the plate, it got tight there at the end, and we kept extending the lead with some good at bats. That is what we have been talking about as a team.”

While the production at the plate is vastly different from last year, the lineup is mostly the same. Bend lost just one starter from last year’s 11-win team that reached the playoffs and started five sophomores.

Suddenly, a young team has become an experienced team and it shows up in the win column. Through the first 12 games a season ago, the Lava Bears won just three games. Through 12 games this year, they have won six more games and are considered a top-five Class 5A team in both the OSAA rankings (No. 4) and the OSAAtoday coaches poll (No. 3).

Although Bend is winning at a much higher clip through the first half of the season, the losses from last year (mainly the walk-off loss in the playoffs to Wilsonville) and this year (another loss to Wilsonville last week in a matchup between the then top-two 5A teams) provide fuel.

“We are more mentally tough,” said Bend senior Will Goodman. “Even though we have lost some games this season, we are even more hungry.”

“Those still sting and we have to keep building on that,” Barber said. “We can’t act like those losses don’t sting. Those games lit a fire under me.”

Clair believes that the IMC is the toughest conference in the state, and for good reason. Two of the IMC’s six teams – Summit and Ridgeview – reached the state semifinals a year ago and return the bulk of their key players.

Bend will wrap up its three-game series against Caldera on Friday, then will play a three-game series next week against Redmond. Caldera will play its series against Ridgeview, the reigning IMC champs, next week.

“I feel like at any point, any team in our league can win on any day,” Clair said. “You have to be ready to play and the team that is most ready is going to win.”

Added Barber: “Every team is the same to us. We are coming to fight.”

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