Lums topple Prairie
<p>Coeur d'Alene's Mitch Bevacqua beats the throw to Prairie's Bryson Smith Thursday in the first inning.</p>
<p>Austin Keifer, second baseman for the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen, uses his body to stop the ball Thursday in the fifth inning of the American Legion AA District 1 baseball tournament in Post Falls.</p>
POST FALLS - The Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen scored five unearned runs on the way to a 15-5 win over the Prairie Cardinals in the opening game of the Class AA Area A tournament Thursday at Post Falls High.
Coeur d'Alene (20-25) third baseman Joe Roletto reached base in every plate appearance, going 3 for 3 with three RBIs and three runs scored.
"I just went out and played like any other game," Roletto said. "I'm starting to feel comfortable at the plate as the season goes on."
Pete Hoffman went the distance, striking out six for Coeur d'Alene.
"I thought Pete pitched very well for us today," Coeur d'Alene coach Lloyd Duman said. "He got through a little adversity early on, but stayed under control and got stronger as the game went on."
Duman added that resting Hoffman over the weekend also contributed to the strong outing.
"We've had to go to him on short rest a couple times this season," Duman said. "We gave him a week off because he was getting tired and he told me he felt strong today."
Mitch Bevacqua had a two-run single in the fourth for Coeur d'Alene.
Prairie (13-26) got to within 7-5 on a Nik Leva pinch-hit single, but the Cardinals allowed three unearned runs in the bottom of the inning to put the game out of reach.
Nik Berger had seven walks and three strikeouts for Prairie (13-26), which faces the loser of the Trail/Cranbrook game today at 1:30 p.m. in a loser-out game.
"We gave up a lot of walks today," Prairie coach Dustin Frank said. "Coeur d'Alene did a good job of scoring runs with two outs today. We came out playing hard, but the ball didn't find the zone today. We did everything we could, and that's all you can ask."
see LUMS, B2
Berger hadn't pitched in two weeks due to a knee injury.
"He's just getting back to throwing off the mound and had a tough time finding the zone," Frank said. "We're still in the hunt and have our best three pitchers ready for the rest of the tournament."
Cody Vandever had two hits for Prairie.
Coeur d'Alene will face the winner of the Lewis-Clark/Trail-Cranbrook winner on Saturday at 10 a.m. in a semifinal game. The winner advances to Sunday's championship game at noon, and also clinches a berth in next week's state tournament at Timberline High in Boise. The top two teams advance to state.
Prairie 022 010 0 - 5 9 4
Coeur d'Alene 040 331 4 - 15 13 2
Game ended in seventh inning due to 10-run rule.
Nik Berger, Connor Peery (6) and Cody VanDuyne; Pete Hoffman and Matt Klepfer. W - Hoffman (6-2). L - Berger (2-4).
HITS: Pra - Vandever 2, Davidson, Tymesen, South, Smith, VanDuyne, Burnett, Leva. Cd'A - Pattis, Klepfer, Kiefer 2, Roletto 3, Bevacqua, Curtis 2, Priano 2, Nyquist. 2B - Klepfer, Kiefer 2, Roletto 2, Curtis, Priano.
n Earlier Friday: The opening game of the tournament between Trail (18-21) and Cranbrook (8-30) was postponed following a bus accident involving the Trail team on the way to the tourney.
Trail was traveling near Colville when a deer ran out in front of the team bus, causing the bus to swerve off the road. Three players suffered minor injuries.
The game has been rescheduled for 10 a.m. today.
CLASS AA
AREA A TOURNAMENT
At Post Falls High
Thursday, July 22
Game 1 - No. 4 Trail (18-21) vs. No. 5 Cranbrook (8-30), 1:30 p.m. (postponed due to bus accident)
Game 2 - Coeur d'Alene 15, Prairie 5, 7 innings
Friday, July 23
Game 1 - No. 4 Trail (18-21) vs. No. 5 Cranbrook (8-30), 10 a.m.
Game 4 - Loser Game 1 vs. Prairie (13-26), 1:30 p.m.
Game 3 - No. 1 Lewis-Clark (31-6) vs. Winner Game 1, 5 p.m.
Saturday, July 24
Game 5 - Coeur d'Alene (20-25) vs. Winner Game 3, 10 a.m.
Game 6 - Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3, 1:30 p.m.
Game 7 - Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 5, 5 p.m.
Sunday, July 25
Game 8 - Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7, noon (championship).
Game 9 - Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 8, 3:30 p.m. (if necessary).
n Class A Area A tournament: At Moscow, the Coeur d'Alene and Prairie both lost in the first round on Thursday. Fifth-seeded Silver Valley defeated No. 4 Coeur d'Alene 9-7, then lost to top-seeded Sandpoint 17-5. No. 6 Prairie lost to No. 3 Moscow.
In the losers bracket today, Prairie plays Silver Valley at 10 a.m., and Coeur d'Alene plays the loser of Thursday's late game between Moscow and No. 2 Lewis-Clark at 1 p.m. The winners play at 4.