Lums fall at Baden tourney

BELLEVUE, Wash. - A key mistake in the bottom of the third inning led to a shutdown of the offense by the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen on Thursday, in an 8-1 loss to the Auburn, Wash., Cannons in the Baden Northwest Invitational in American Legion baseball action at Newport High.

With runners on first and second and no outs in the fourth inning, Dominic Conigliaro hit a ball that was caught in left and the runner at second was thrown out trying to return to second for the double play.

"For the most part, we couldn't string (hits) together," said Coeur d'Alene coach Zach Clanton, who took the blame for the baserunning snafu. "When we had runners in scoring position, we couldn't get them in. That play in the fourth was on me."

Conigliaro, the starting pitcher, was pulled after five innings, allowing three runs, and striking out five.

"His pitch count was up there," Clanton said. "He had a lot of 3-1 counts, it (his pitch count) was right around 100. On a hot day like that, we have bigger concerns than the Baden invite, like districts and state. Dominic's a big part of that."

Auburn starter Kelly Fromm allowed one run on eight hits, striking out six, before coming out in the seventh.

Coeur d'Alene (16-22) is 1-1 in pool play.

At 10 a.m. today at Bannerwood Park, Coeur d'Alene will play the Kirkland Merchants. At 8 p.m. tonight, the Lumbermen will play the Seattle Stars at Husky Ballpark on the University of Washington campus.

Auburn 010 111 4 - 8 11 1

Coeur d'Alene 000 001 0 - 1 9 2

Kelly Fromm, Chandler Arends (7) and Mark Mulligan; Dominic Conigliaro, Reggie Nault (6) and Colton Gray. W - Fromm. L - Conigliaro.

HITS: Aub - Poffenroth 2, Ebner 2, Swanson 4, Rivera 2, Katai. Cd'A - Plum, Kluss, Green 2, Nault, Conigliaro, Kennedy, Gray 2. 2B - Rivera, Katai, Kluss.