Simon Lemke thought Danny Sales was joking when he offered Lemke a chance to pitch for the team he rooted for during his childhood summers.

But Sales, the Bend Elks pitching coach, was all too serious when he offered the recent Mountain View graduate a 10-day contract to pitch in the West Coast League.

Lemke has parlayed the brief contract into a full-summer gig, getting a chance to play with and compete against college-level ballplayers before heading off to pitch for Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Washington, in the fall.

“I had no plan of playing for the Elks this summer,” Lemke said. “I’m super glad that I am here — this is a huge opportunity for me.”

Lemke just recently completed his senior high school baseball season in which he was the ace of the Mountain View pitching staff, was named first team all-Intermountain Conference and was one of seven Class 5A pitchers selected for first team all-state. In his final start of his senior year, he flirted with a no-hitter in the Cougars’ first-round playoff win over Central.

But Lemke wasn’t sure what he was going to do this summer before heading to Pasco to start his college career. He said he likely would have spent the next couple of months playing for his club team Boss Baseball.

But when he went in recently to pitch against live hitters at the Boss Baseball facility he caught the eye of Sales, who was returning for his second season coaching for the wood-bat college summer team.

The Elks pitching coach saw good velocity in his fastball that had plenty of movement and two off-speed pitches — a changeup and slider — that could be thrown for strikes. Lemke also had a throwing motion that coaches covet.

But perhaps most importantly, he showed the maturity needed to pitch against seasoned players up to five years older than him.

“His first appearance he came in cold, he grabbed the bull by the horn and did some things really well,” Sales said. “He was not scared, not timid, he didn’t look like a freshman.”

He might not have been scared, but his Elks debut — stepping on the mound at Vince Genna Stadium against the Wenatchee AppleSox in the second game of the season — was certainly eye-opening.

He knew he would be one of the first pitchers out of the bullpen that day, but ended up entering the game much earlier than expected after starting pitcher Ryan Rembisz left the game after two innings due to an injury.

Lemke was thrown into the game without any warmup time in the bullpen, and just a handful of pitches on the mound before trying to get AppleSox batters out.

“There were so many fans, I’ve never played in this type of atmosphere,” Lemke said. “Probably not my ideal first outing for the Elks, but I’m glad I got in there and kept us in the game.”

He has quickly learned that facing college-level players is much different than facing down high school batters.

While pitching for Mountain View, he could get away with making a mistake like throwing a pitch over the middle of the plate. Now, those balls get crushed.

Lemke’s high school outings were often called “efficient” by Mountain View coach Ryan Johnson, as he was able to get through an inning or an outing without throwing many pitches. The disciplined college hitters, Lemke has learned, force him to throw more pitches per at bat than he is used to.

“I can’t throw down the middle,” Lemke said. “Everyone that I face is a grind to get out. Everyone that goes up there is ready to hit — it is really making me better for college. I’ll be ready when I get to college.”

Lemke has made three appearances out of the bullpen against WCL opponents, his best outing coming in a 7-3 win over Port Angeles on June 7 in which he threw two perfect innings to set up the save.

In the three WCL appearances, Lemke has thrown 5.2 innings, striking out four batters, and has a 4.76 ERA.

In Sunday’s game against Baum Bat NW in a non-WCL game, Lemke got his first start of the season, had his longest outing and got his first win. He tossed four innings, allowing four hits and three earned runs while striking out six in the Elks’ 10-4 victory.

“The first thing I said to him was that you are going to have a lot of outings,” Sales said. “Some days you aren’t going to have your best stuff, some days you are. The biggest thing for him is not letting what happens to you affect you mentally. You have to fight through when the good pitches are getting hit.”

Lemke has taken the ups and downs of the season thus far in stride, knowing the experience of playing nearly every day will pay off in the long run.

Some of the more experienced college players have taken him under their wings, treating him like a younger brother, and showing him the ropes of what it takes to have success at the next level of baseball.

A once thought of joke has turned into something much more.

“This is what I needed for the summer,” Lemke said. “I love baseball, so being out here every day is a dream.”

• Through 16 total games this season, the Bend Elks are 5-7 against West Coast League opponents and 3-1 against nonleague opponents. As of Monday afternoon, the Elks were in fifth place in the WCL’s South Division, three games behind the division-leading Springfield Drifters, with whom the Elks begin a three-game series starting Tuesday in Springfield.

• Beau Sylvester, a catcher from Oklahoma State who was named the WCL’s top prospect last summer, made his return to the Elks for a second season.

• As a team, the Elks have hit just two home runs this season, both coming off the bat of Ryan Christiansen of Sacramento State. Christiansen is also tied for the lead in RBIs (with Steven Meier of Old Dominion) with seven.

• Brayden Wells, of Lower Columbia College, has been the Elks most effective pitcher in the early stages of the season. In three starts, the southpaw has struck out a team-high 10 batters and has a 3.00 ERA. His best outing came against Port Angeles on June 5, when he allowed two runs in six innings of work in a 17-5 Elks’ win.

• After the three-game series in Springfield, the Elks return home for three games (Friday through Sunday) against the Ridgefield Raptors.