CLASS AA STATE LEGION TOURNAMENT: Out at home
<p>Kevin Kluss of the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen slides into home base in the third inning, where Eric Fasth, pitcher for the Boise Gems, tags him out on Wednesday afternoon at Thorco Field.</p>
<p>Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen head coach Zach Clanton, center, speaks with pitcher Dominic Conigliaro and catcher Grant Wade during the second inning against the Boise Gems.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - The Boise Gems lost an extra innings heartbreaker Tuesday to Twin Falls.
Perhaps they took out their frustration on the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen as the Gems pounded out 18 runs on 21 hits in a loser-out game on Wednesday in the class AA state American Legion baseball tournament at Thorco Field.
"It was just one of those games where we were able to get pieces of bat on the ball and get an early lead and put pressure on them in a loser-out game," Boise Gems coach Larry Price said. "So we had to be able to come out and play hard. It was a tough loss last night in extra innings and the kids responded. We had a phenomenal talk last night for over an hour of why we're here and what we're going to try to do and we were fortunate to hit the ball the way we did today."
Parker Price led the Gems offensively. He drove in seven runs, going 3 for 5 on the day, including two doubles and a home run.
The Gems will play the Boise Capitals today at 1 p.m. in another loser-out game.
As for the Lumbermen (30-22), their season is done after going 0-2 in the tournament.
"I think it was almost a lack of aggressiveness," second-year Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen coach Zach Clanton said. "For some reason, somewhere along the summer we kind of lost what made us so tough early on. We lived and died with aggressive innings. Every once in a while we would make a bone-headed mistake, but now we just wouldn't even be willing to make a mistake at the plate or on the bases or something."
The Gems started their offensive surge early, taking an 8-0 lead after two innings.
"I don't think Dom (starting pitcher Dominic Conigliaro) was as sharp as he has been in the past but that's not to discredit anything they did," Clanton said. "They hit the ball very, very well today and Larry's (Price) teams always do that. They've always been able to hit even when I was playing. That was expected. I saw them down in Boise at the state high school tournament, so I knew they were more than capable of doing that."
Devin Kluss hit a two-run single to cut the deficit to 13-3 in the bottom of the third inning for Coeur d'Alene.
Coeur d'Alene's Elliott Sparks took over the pitching duties for Conner Cardinel in the third inning. Sparks went 2 for 4 with an RBI.
"It's been a hell of a season, a hell of a past three years on this team," Sparks said. "I wish we could have ended a little bit better but I love nothing more than playing this summer with these guys."
Boise Gems 265 401 0 - 18 21 0
Coeur d'Alene 003 030 0 - 6 10 4
Eric Fasth, Payton Harris (4) and Jacob Randall, Travis Grant (3); Dominic Conigliaro, Conner Cardinel (2), Elliott Sparks (3), Devin Kluss (7) and Grant Wade. W - Fasth. L - Conigliaro (4-5).
HITS: Boise - Kim 4, Price 3, Engelson 4, Harris, Steffler 3, Lamb 2, Cobos, Grant, Herberg 2. CDA - Kluss 2, Vaudreiul, Conigliaro, Sparks 2, Green, Seaman 2, Wade. 2B - Price 2, Engelson, Steffler 2, Lamb, Kim 2, Herberg, Kluss, Green. HR - Price.
Nampa Chiefs 9, Pocatello Runnin' Rebels 8, 10 inn.: Nampa's Chase Swainston hit an RBI sacrifice fly to bring home Ryan Coon for the winning run. The Runnin' Rebels led 8-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning but the Chiefs rallied to tie it and send the game to the 10th.
Pocatello 010 032 200 0 - 8 7 4
Nampa 110 000 015 1 - 9 12 7
Trevor Bower, CC Burrup (9), Braedon Boyer (9) and Kade Hall; Logan Barker, Joe Reinertson (5), Zach Penrod (6) and Braydon Torres-Moore. W - Penrod. L - Boyer.
HITS: Pocatello - Hunt, Mansanerez, Farnsworth, Lamont 2, Burrup, Norby. Nampa - Swainston, Dunn, Penrod 2, Hammudeh 2, Vickers 2, Torres 3, Coon. 2B - Lamont. HR - Farnsworth.