Lumbermen, Cardinals looking for better finish at state AA tournament

One team was bitten by the injury bug in its class AA American Legion baseball state tournament appearance last season. The other had to develop confidence in its first appearance in over eight years.

Coeur d'Alene, which lost players to injury during last year's state tournament, advanced by winning the class AA Area A (district) tournament last weekend at McEuen Field. They went 0-2 in their eighth-straight state tournament last season.

Coeur d'Alene (42-9) opens this year's state tournament at Harris Field in Lewiston today at 10 a.m. against the Mountain View Toros.

Prairie (25-20), which went 1-2 in the Cardinals' first state appearance since 2003, opens with the Boise Gems at 4 p.m. Lewis-Clark (18-29) finished third in the area A tournament and received an automatic bid as tournament host.

The winner of this week's tournament advances to the Northwest Regional Aug. 8-13 at Dehler Park in Billings, Mont.

All state games are nine innings.

"Last year, we thought we were set up really well with our pitching, but had some big injury problems," Coeur d'Alene coach Lloyd Duman said.

The Lumbermen will rely on Pete Hoffman, Colin Comack, Grant Curtis and Jacob Gonzales this year.

"We've got to be able to win four games, and we've got the pitching to do it this year," Duman said. "If we can stay away from the injuries, I think we've got a chance."

Prairie advanced after beating Lewis-Clark twice in last weekend's tournament at McEuen Field.

"We played good baseball last year, but when we got down there, we played tight," Prairie coach Dustin Frank said. "We weren't getting bunts down and were making mental mistakes. Those little things are related to confidence, which is something that we're going to gain this year."

Colin Comack took the loss in a loser-out game against Twin Falls in last year's state tournament.

"I think we're going to do pretty good," Comack said. "I've got high hopes for this team this year. We're more confident this year and if we show up and play with some, we should do pretty good."

Of the players on the Lumbermen, eight played on last year's Loggers "A" state championship team.

"It's a long season, but we've had a lot of success with these kids," Duman said. "They've grown so much. We've had a lot of young kids that have made some strides, but they're still growing."

Duman added not having to play after traveling south could also help this season.

"I'd like to think so," Duman said. "We've played down there, so we know the field and don't have to travel 10 hours to get there. Instead of getting up at 6 a.m. to get down there for a banquet, we're leaving at 2 p.m. (Wednesday) and we'll be there by 4. And that's huge."

STATE "AA" AMERICAN LEGION TOURNAMENT

at Harris Field, Lewiston.

Thursday

First round

Game 1 - Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen vs. Mountain View Toros, 10 a.m.

Game 2 - Idaho Falls Bandits vs. Treasure Valley Stars, 1 p.m.

Game 3 - Boise Gems vs. Prairie Cardinals, 4.

Game 4 - Twin Falls Cowboys vs. Lewis-Clark Twins, 7.

Friday

Game 5 - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 10 a.m. (loser out).

Game 6 - Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m. (loser out).

Game 7 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 4.

Game 8 - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 7.

Saturday

Game 9 - Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 11 a.m.

Game 10 - Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 2 p.m.

Game 11 - Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 5 p.m.

Game 12 - Winner Game 7 vs. Winner 8, 8 p.m. (semifinals)

Sunday

Game 13 - Winner 11 vs. Loser 12, 10 a.m. (loser eliminated)

Game 14 - Winner 12 vs. Winner 13, 1 p.m. (championship game)

Monday

Game 15 - Loser Game 14 vs. Winner Game 14, 9:30 a.m. (if necessary game).

* The Coeur d'Alene Loggers didn't exactly charge into the class A Area A (district) American Legion baseball tournament with a whole lot of momentum, getting swept in three straight doubleheaders and slipping to the fifth seed in the eight-team tourney.

But as quickly as things went bad, things turned around as the Loggers went 4-0 to win the Area A title and earn the North’s top seed to the state A tournament in Pocatello.

When the Loggers open tourney play today at 3 p.m. PDT against the Idaho Falls Bees, they will come in as winners of seven of their last eight games.

“It’s just weird,” Loggers coach Mike Bacon said. “We just had our losing streak at the absolute perfect time. We got it out of our system, and eliminated our errors. Us getting rolled by all those teams, in three doubleheaders in a row, I think we might have been underestimated (at districts).”

St. Maries, which was the Area A runner-up, advanced to face the Rocky Mountain Avalanche of Meridian at noon. St. Maries defeated Lewis-Clark on Sunday to clinch a berth to state.

The tournament champion will advance to the Northwest “A” Regional tournament Aug. 10-14 in Burley.

STATE “A” AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

at Halliwell Park, Pocatello

Thursday

Game 1 — Burley Green Sox vs. Boise Gems, 9 a.m.

Game 2 — Rocky Mountain Avalanche vs. St. Maries Savages, noon.

Game 3 — Coeur d’Alene Loggers vs. Idaho Falls Bees, 3 p.m.

Game 4 — Emmett Blue Devils vs. Pocatello Razorbacks, 6:30.

Friday

Game 5 — Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 9 a.m.

Game 6 — Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, noon.

Game 7 — Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 3 p.m.

Game 8 — Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 6.

Saturday

Game 9 — Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 6, 9 a.m.

Game 10 — Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 5, noon.

Game 11 — Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 6 p.m.

Game 12 — Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 9, 3.

Sunday

Game 13 — Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 13, 3 p.m.

Game 14 — Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 13, 6.

Monday

Game 15 — Winner Game 14 vs. Loser Game 14, 11 a.m. (if necessary).