Prairie stays alive at state; Lums out after wacky finish
TWIN FALLS - Zack Reeder went 2 for 4 and drove in three runs as the Prairie Cardinals defeated the Jerome Cyclones 4-1 in a loser-out game in the state AA American Legion tournament on Thursday at Skip Walker Field.
Cody Vandever struck out nine in a complete game five-hitter for Prairie (25-24), which faces the Boise Gems today at noon PDT.
"Our defense stepped it up today," Prairie coach Dustin Frank said. "Both (Eric) Cooper and (Derek) Tymesen rolled up a couple of double plays up the middle today and Cody threw a lot of strikes. To be able to keep a team to one run in a nine-inning game, especially at state, is pretty special."
Tyler Shaffer went 2 for 2 with two runs scored for Prairie, and Cooper scored twice.
Prairie 020 002 000 - 4 8 0
Jerome 010 000 000 - 1 5 2
Cody Vandever and Darnell Metcalf; Gary Koopman and Tyler Powell. W - Vandever. L - Koopman.
HITS: Pra - Reeder 2, Tymesen, Givens 2, Cooper, Shaffer. Jer - Stouder, Bos, Berrett, Holyoak, Ahrens. 2B - Reeder, Shaffer.
Twin Falls 7
Coeur d'Alene 6
TWIN FALLS - The host Cowboys rallied with four runs in the bottom of a wild ninth inning to defeat the Lumbermen in a loser-out game in the state AA American Legion baseball tournament at Skip Walker Field.
Coeur d'Alene jumped out to a early lead as Grant Curtis singled to score Colin Comack in the first inning. Curtis struck again with a two-run double to give Coeur d'Alene a 4-0 lead after three innings.
Twin Falls pulled within two runs after Cy Sneed hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning.
Chad Nyquist singled to score Jason Pattis in the eighth and Kaleb DeHaas hit a solo home run in the ninth to give Coeur d'Alene a 6-3 lead.
In the ninth inning, Twin Falls loaded the bases with nobody out and scored after Comack walked in a run. Matt Cade entered the game in relief and got a Twin Falls batter to hit a fly ball to center field. Pattis raced back toward the wall, and according to Lums coach Lloyd Duman, the ball bounced off the wall into Pattis's glove. But the play was ruled a catch by the umpires.
After the catch, runners from second and third came in to score to tie the game at 6. The runner at first had rounded second on the play, Duman said. The Lums appealed the runners on first and second hadn't tagged up. The umpires ruled the runner as second had tagged up, but the runner at first had not, and was called out.
After all that dust settled, Twin Falls singled on its next two at-bats to drive in the winning run and end the game.
"It's frustrating to have the season end on a play like that," Duman said. "It was really bizarre."
"Colin pitched 8 1/2 really good innings, but we just couldn't finish it," Duman said. "We left him in because he'd been effective to that point, but just didn't have enough gas in the tank."
Pattis, who was used as the team's closer in last week's Area A tournament in Trail, British Columbia, pitched on Wednesday and wasn't available to throw Thursday.
"We had to use him yesterday," Duman said. "Today it was a situation for him. Us leading 6-3, but it didn't work out."
Coeur d'Alene concludes the season 39-21.
Cd'A 103 000 011 - 6 9 0
Twin Falls 000 003 004 - 7 12 0
Two outs when winning run scored
Colin Comack, Matt Cade (9) and Joe Roletto; Casey Merritt, Michael Garcia (9) and Jayson Welker. W - Garcia. L - Comack.
HITS: Cd'A - Roletto, Comack, Pattis 2, Nyquist 2, DeHaas, Curtis 2. TF - not available. 2B - Curtis, Patts, Ellis, Fuchs. HR - Sneed, DeHaas.
IDAHO AA AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
at Skip Walker Field, Twin Falls
Times PDT
Thursday
Prairie 4, Jerome 1 (loser out)
Twin Falls 7, Coeur d'Alene 6 (loser out)
Eagle 13, Treasure Valley 7
Pocatello 18, Boise Gems 13
Friday
Game 9 - Boise Gems vs. Prairie, noon (loser out)
Game 10 - Treasure Valley vs. Twin Falls, 3 p.m. (loser out)
Game 11 - Eagle vs. Pocatello, 6.
Cd'A Loggers 2
Burley 1
ONTARIO, Ore. - Shane Siron's pinch-hit two-run double in the top of the sixth lifted Coeur d'Alene past the Green Sox in the first round of the state A tournament at Treasure Valley Community College.
Until that inning, the Loggers had struck out 10 times - seven looking - and coach Tom Barlow was looking for a spark.
Devon Burgess led off the sixth with a bunt single. One out later, Jesse O'Hagan's fly ball to left field was dropped for an error. Sean Sutton grounded into a fielder's choice, moving the runners up to second and third base. Siron then doubled to right-center field to give Coeur d'Alene (34-21), the Area A champions, the lead.
"Siron was hitting it well in the cage (before the game), so we decided to give it a shot," Barlow said. "We weren't doing anything until that inning."
Leif Krapas struck out seven, walked two and scatterered three hits for Coeur d'Alene, which plays Emmett, the top seed from Area B, today at 3 p.m. PDT.
Krapas didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning, when he yielded a solo home run to Jackson Kunz of Burley (27-16).
Loggers 000 002 0 - 2 4 1
Burley 000 100 0 - 1 3 1
Leif Krapas and Kolby DeHaas; Mills and Ferrin. W - Krapas. L - Mills.
HITS: Cd'A - Robbins, Siron, DeHaas, Burgess. Bur - Kunz, Boalimo, Knapp. 2B - Siron. HR - Kunz.