LEGION BASEBALL: Coeur d'Alene wins twice on defensive errors

WENATCHEE, Wash. - Stephen Vaudreuil finished the day with six hits as the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen beat the Mudville Pinnacle of Seattle 5-4 and Northwest Blaze of Belfair, Wash., 7-6 in the Wenatchee Invitational on Saturday.

"Stephen is doing everything I could ever ask of him in the leadoff spot," Coeur d'Alene coach Zach Clanton said. "He's a machine right now. Every time I turn around, he's hitting a double."

Coeur d'Alene scored the winning run against Mudville on a passed ball when the ball reached the backstop as the Mudville pitcher overthrew the catcher trying to intentionally walk Cody Garza.

Elliott Sparks had a two-out RBI double in the second inning for Coeur d'Alene against Mudville.

"He didn't get to hit very much during the high school season," Clanton said. "But I'm comfortable enough to put him in there. He's an aggressive hitter and I just let him go up and swing."

Against the Northwest Blaze, Vaudreuil had an RBI triple in the second inning and Coeur d'Alene took advantage of three straight walks to take the lead in the seventh, with Garza scoring on a passed ball.

"It's just been the tempo with us," Clanton said. "We've been a little flat the first couple of days. It was about 90 degrees today, and it's wearing on them. When we go out and set the tempo, we're tough to beat."

Coeur d'Alene (9-1) wraps up tournament play today against Seattle Select and Toyota Baseball at Wenatchee Valley Community College.

COEUR d'ALENE 5, MUDVILLE PINNACLE 4

Mudville 000 120 1 - 4 7 2

Coeur d'Alene 021 010 1 - 5 8 2

One out when winning run scored.

Aedi, Pattan (3), Maholvich (7) and Shaw; Sam Slusser, Elliott Sparks (7) and Reilly Cherry. W - Sparks (2-0). L - Pattan.

HITS: MP - Mortensen 2, Shaw 2, Barlet 2, Kim. Cd'A - Vaudreuil 3, Conigliaro 2, Sparks, Criswell 2. 2B - Vaudreuil, Conigliaro. 3B - Vaudreuil.

COEUR d'ALENE 7, NORTHWEST BLAZE 6

Coeur d'Alene 130 000 3 - 7 7 1

NW Blaze 201 021 0 - 6 11 1

Jarred Hall, Tanner Criswell (5), Cody Garza (6) and Grant Wade; Malloy, Strandz (7) and Chalich. W - Garza (1-0). L - Strandz.

HITS: Cd'A - Vaudreuil 3, Garza, Kluss, Hall, Wade. NB - Zurbrugg 2, Shaffer 2, Perez 2, Page, Wilson 2, Chalich, Marks. 2B - Zurbrugg, Perez, Marks. 3B - Vaudreuil.

Cen. Wash. Spuds 7

Northern Lakes 4

RATHDRUM - The Mountaineers were done in by seven errors, losing to the Central Washington Spuds of Moses Lake in a nonleague game at Lakeland High.

"Blake (Wrotenbury) did a great job of throwing strike one and pitching to contact," Northern Lakes coach Pat Capone said. "Our defense let us down today, but I told our guys, we made seven errors and still had a chance to win the game. It was a tough day at the office, but the beautiful thing is the sun comes up tomorrow and we got two at their place."

The teams played until the fourth inning of a scheduled doubleheader before it was called due to rain with Central Washington leading 1-0.

The teams will resume the game today at Larson Playfield in Moses Lake, where they were scheduled to play a doubleheader today starting at 5:30 p.m., with the second game being a 9-inning contest.

Cent. Wash. 100 300 3 - 7 9 1

Northern Lakes 000 002 2 - 4 3 7

Tumtall and unknown; Blake Wrotenbury and unknown. W - unknown. L - Wrotenbury (0-1).

HITS: CW - Wolf, Tunstall, Karstetter 4, Springer, Vela, Fisk. NL - Pote, Wrotenbury, Strong. 2B - Karstetter, Wrotenbury.