The Bend Elks’ best season in nine years came to an end Sunday in the West Coast League South Division Series.

The Elks made their first postseason since winning the WCL title in 2015, but were swept 2-0 by the Portland Pickles in the best-of-three Divisional Series. The Pickles beat the Elks 7-2 on Saturday at Bend’s Vince Genna Stadium, then clinched the series with a 16-6 win on Sunday night in Portland.

“Portland is really good, my guess is that they will win it all,” said Elks coach Allen Cox. “We just ran out of fuel.”

In Game 1, Bend fell behind 5-0 by the fifth inning. The Elks scored two runs with an RBI single by Luke Reece, but it was not enough to pick up the home victory against the Pickles.

In what proved to be the series-clinching win for the Pickles on Sunday, the Elks took a 5-4 lead in the top of the third inning, thanks to a grand-slam home run from Isaiah Burke. But the lead was short lived, as Portland scored five runs in the bottom of the third then pulled away with a seven-run inning in the fourth.

The Pickles advance to take on the Corvallis Knights — who beat the Ridgeview Raptors in two games — in the Divisional Championship, with the winner facing the champions from the North Division in the WCL title game.

Despite the early playoff exit, the 2024 summer was the best season that the Elks have had since claiming the WCL championship nearly a decade ago. They finished with 32 wins, the most since 2015, and ended a nine-year postseason drought.

With the success this season, the Elks learned what it is going to take to advance in the playoffs in the seasons to come. The main takeaway, Cox said, was finding ways to keep the roster intact deep into the season. When the Elks started their series against the Pickles on Saturday, some of their top players had moved on back to their colleges and multiple starters had just joined the team.

“The key is to see how many of the top guys you have at the end,” Cox said. “We fought as hard as we could. Getting that (home) playoff game is huge. Now we know how to get to the playoffs. Now we have to adjust so we can win in the playoffs.”

Cox, who took over as the Elks coach a couple weeks into the season, is signed on to return as the coach next summer.

“I love the city, and my wife is excited because she loves Bend,” Cox said. “It is exciting. Now we want to win 35 or 40 games and win a title for the city. Now that we have gotten a taste of success we think that is reachable.”