Lums get past Prairie
COEUR d’ALENE — Matt Gjevre hit a sacrifice fly to score Brett Stapleton with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen beat the Prairie Cardinals 4-3 in the AA American Legion North Idaho League opener for both squads on Thursday at Thorco Field.
Stapleton led off the inning with a double, then moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brady Thompson.
Prairie scored two runs in the top of the second to take a 2-0 lead.
“They swing the bats really well,” first-year Coeur d’Alene coach Kevin Dunton said of Prairie. “They’re an aggressive team and they’ve got some good ballplayers.”
Jared Porter struck out seven over 5 2/3 innings for Prairie, and allowed three runs.
“Jared gave us all we could handle for the first five innings,” Dunton said. “We were able to play some small ball and get something going. Gjevre came through with a clutch triple and sacrifice fly.”
Preston Benson had two of Prairie’s four hits.
“Preston hit the ball hard today,” first-year Prairie coach Pat Call said. “We just let so many at-bats get away from us in the middle of the game just not thinking about our job. (Chaz) Bailey did a great job of getting on base, we just couldn’t get a key hit or two. The Lums played well. They made all the plays they needed to and threw strikes.”
Brett Stapleton struck out seven over five innings and Brett Keesee picked up the win in relief for Coeur d’Alene (3-3), which competes in the Northside Clash tournament starting Saturday at Gonzaga Prep in Spokane.
“Both Stapleton and Keesee were really effective and did a fantastic job on the mound tonight,” Dunton said.
Prairie (3-2) will face the Spokane Bandits tonight at 5 at Post Falls High.
Prairie 020 000 1 — 3 4 0
Coeur d’Alene 000 021 1 — 4 6 1
Two out when winning run scored.
Jared Porter, Brock Zeller (6) and Seth Villanpando; Brett Stapleton, Brett Keesee (6) and Conner Conigliaro. W — Keesee (2-0). L — Zeller (1-1).
HITS — Pra: McCliment-Call, Benson 2, Setian. Cd’A — Bates, Conigliaro, Cunningham, Gjevre, Keesee, Stapleton. 2B — Benson, Stapleton. 3B — Gjevre.