THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Wednesday, June 15, 2016
I’m pretty sure there’s been a handful of games between the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen and Prairie Cardinals that could compare to Monday’s second game of a Class AA American Legion baseball doubleheader, whether that be at Post Falls High, Thorco Field or the former home of the Lums, McEuen Field.
All that being said, there’s a good chance that fans will never see anything like what happened on Monday night.
TRAILING AT one point 17-8, Coeur d’Alene scored 10 unanswered runs, including seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, capped by scoring the winning run on a throwing error for an 18-17 win against Prairie.
That was after Prairie beat Coeur d’Alene 10-5 in the opener.
“I’ve played a lot of baseball in my life and you see a lot of crazy things,” second-year Prairie coach Brian Fowler said. “This is right up there for sure. Just with the crazy momentum shifts and all that stuff.”
Coeur d’Alene coach Zach Clanton, who also played for the Lums until 2008, recalled a 2006 game against Lewis-Clark at McEuen Field with a similarly wild finish.
“We ended up winning the game on a walk-off grand slam by Mike Estrada,” Clanton said. “I think it was his third home run of the game. The biggest difference between that game and this one was it was more about who wanted to lose it more. Unfortunately, I don’t think we deserved to win, but I don’t think that they did either.”
On that night, Coeur d’Alene trailed 25-17 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning and got a three-run home run by Trent Bridges, an RBI double by Travis Georgius and a couple more runs on wild pitches to quickly cut into the deficit.
ON THIS night, Coeur d’Alene walked five batters and hit five more, and Prairie finished the inning with 10 runs on only three hits.
“We both kind of ran out of arms and it just became a situation of trying to find something that could throw strikes,” Clanton said. “And luckily, (senior) Grayson (Baker) was able to do that tonight. He hasn’t been on the mound since he was a freshman (at Lake City High). And what did he have to lose. He came out and did a great job and maintained them and kept them where they were with 17 runs.”
Clanton — who pitched for the Lums, Lake City and at NAIA Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, served as pitching coach at Wenatchee Valley Community College for the past two seasons before taking over as head coach at the end of this past season.
“I tell people all the time, I don’t think I walked five guys in a season,” Clanton said. “So sometimes it’s hard for me to understand what happens. We’ve got guys getting on the mound for the first time this summer, and sometimes that happens. And that’s particularly our fault as coaches that for a first time on the mound, it didn’t work out. But we’re going to keep giving them chances because we’ve got to at this point.”
Unlike that game of 2006, there wasn’t a grand slam — or any home runs in that inning — that sparked the rally. Just some timely hitting.
Brandon Stott’s two-run single cut the deficit to 17-11 and Dominic Conigiliaro hit a two-run double to make it 17-13. RBI singles by Grant Wade and Zach Sensel got the Lums within striking distance and Stott — who reached on an error — scored on a throwing error to win the game with one out in the seventh.
“It’s a tough one, but it’s still really early in the season,” Fowler said. “You’re going to lose some tough ones, and you’re going to win some tough ones. It’s early in the season and they’ve got to forget about it. The way we swung the bats is definitely something to build on.”
Clanton, who joked with his assistant coaches about a rally, added he was played to end the game in the seventh, one way or the other.
“It’s still a win, and I told these guys I was going to send Stott no matter what,” Clanton said. “I wasn’t going to stick around and play extra innings. That’s the team we are and we’re going to have to be aggressive and push the issue on the base paths. I made the decision as soon as the ball got away from the pitcher that we were going to try our luck, and it worked out for us.”
For Prairie, Preston Benson hit three triples in the doubleheader, and scored four runs in the first game.
“He’s one of the faster kids I’ve seen at this level,” Fowler said. “He’s a big, tall kid with some long strides. Once he gets going, he’s pretty quick around the bases. And he’s been swinging a great bat for us all season.”
Prairie finished the doubleheader with 36 hits — 18 in each game.
“We’ve been talking about being more patient at the plate,” Fowler said. “We’re a pretty good hitting team and we did a good job at the plate tonight. It’s just about not being over aggressive, and making them throw strikes to us. We had a way better approach at the plate than we’ve had all season today.”
BOTH TEAMS return to action tonight as part of the Best of the Northwest tournament, with Prairie hosting the Spokane Crew at 6 at Post Falls High and Coeur d’Alene hosting the Spokane Expos at 7 at Thorco Field.
“Now we’re going into tournament play,” Clanton said. “Luckily, Nate (Phillips) is going to be healthy enough to pitch (tonight). He wasn’t available (Monday) because of a root canal and (Tanner) Criswell was sick. It’s going to be a matter of making sure everyone is healthy and able to go deep into games on the mound so we don’t have to rely on the relievers.”
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.