Road a little longer for Lums
• AA TOURNAMENT
LEWISTON — The road to the state championship got a little longer for the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen.
Idaho Falls scored 10 runs in the fourth and fifth inning — seven coming in the fourth of a 14-6 win over the Lumbermen in the American Legion baseball class AA state tournament on Friday at Harris Field.
Coeur d’Alene opened the scoring on an RBI single by Nick Nyquist to score Colin Comack. Nyquist reached on an error, while Joe Roletto and Chad Nyquist scored on the play.
Idaho Falls’ seven-run inning was keyed by a two-run single from Colben McGuire, who also earned the win as the starting pitcher.
“They just hit the ball really, really well,” Coeur d’Alene coach Lloyd Duman said. “And we made some mistakes. They kind of took it to us and just plain beat us. Every time we tried to get back into the game, they answered and didn’t let us back in the game.”
Chad Nyquist had three hits, Sean Sutton and Comack two hits each for Coeur d’Alene (43-10), which faces Twin Falls in a loser-out game today at 1 p.m. at Harris Field.
“Chad played very well and Colin hit the ball very well,” Duman said. “Sean was hitting the ball really hard today, but we just couldn’t get it going.”
Idaho Falls 000 730 220 — 14 19 3
Coeur d’Alene 001 201 200 — 6 11 2
Colben McGuire, Joel Martin and Scott Allison; Pete Hoffman, Mark Nuttleman (5), Sean Sutton (8) and Joe Roletto. W — McGuire. L — Hoffman.
HITS: IF — Clayton, Allison, Durbin 3, Hostert 2, Elliott 4, Clark 3, McGuire 3, Greene, Guza. Cd’A — Comack 2, Roletto, C. Nyquist 3, N. Nyquist, O’Hagan 2, Sutton, Jacobson. 2B — Clayton, Durbin 2, Elliott, McGuire, C. Nyquist 2, Sutton, Jacobson.
Twin Falls 9
Prairie 5
LEWISTON — Braden Stutzman singled to score Casey Merritt with the game-winning run as the Twin Falls Cowboys beat the Prairie Cardinals in 10 innings of a loser-out game at the class AA state tournament at Harris Field.
Prairie finishes 25-22.
“It was a close game,” Prairie coach Dustin Frank said. “It pretty much came down to who made more defensive plays and we gave them three or four outs in a couple innings.”
Prairie advanced to state for the second-straight year after last qualifying in 2004.
“Our biggest doubt as a coaching staff was if we could stay in the moment and stay loose,” Frank said. “But we played tight. We tried to tell them to have fun and let their ability shine.”
Darnell Metcalf hit an RBI triple to score Zack Reeder in the sixth inning. Reeder tied the game at 4 in the seventh on a two-run double to score Joe Schwalbach and Jeremy McKinney.
Of the 13 players on their roster, only three will return next season.
“This was a very talented group,” Frank said. “Just sometimes the most talented team doesn’t win. I’m definitely proud of them for their success. They’ve earned it.”
Twin Falls 000 120 110 4 — 9 15 3
Prairie 000 002 300 0 — 5 4 1
Casey Merritt, Damon Jones (8) and Sayer Conrad; Dylan Charbonneau, Tyler Shaffer (4), Zack Reeder (8) and James Prockish, Darnell Metcalf (4), Prockish (8). W — Jones. L — Reeder.
HITS: TF — Merritt 2, Stutzman 2, Slotten 2, Jones 2, Walters, Hohnhorst 4, Byce. Pra — Reeder, Metcalf, Collier 2. 2B — Merritt, Slotten, Jones 2, Walters, Hohnhorst, Reeder. 3B — Metcalf.
• A Tournament
Cd’A Loggers 13
Emmett 5
POCATELLO — Jacob McKnight struck out eight over seven innings as the Coeur d’Alene Loggers beat the Emmett Blue Devils in a loser-out game in the class A state tournament at Halliwell Park.
Carter Chaffin went 3 for 3 with a double and two RBIs and Colton Gray went 2 for 4 with two doubles and three RBIs for Coeur d’Alene, which faces the Burley Green Sox today.
“Today we had stellar pitching and eliminated our errors,” Coeur d’Alene coach Mike Bacon said. “It really came down to pitching and making the plays.”
Emmett committed eight errors in the game.
“We really capitalized on errors,” Bacon said. “We just came up with hits in key moments.”
In other action, the Boise Gems beat the St. Maries Savages, eliminating the runner-up from the Area A district tournament.