Lums advance to state semifinals

LEWISTON — Somehow, someway, the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen just found a way on Saturday.

Trailing 2-1 after five innings, the Lumbermen scored a run in both the sixth and seventh inning, rallying for a 3-2 win over the St. Anthony Cougars at Harris Field to advance to the state class A American Legion semifinals.

“We popped a lot of a balls up into the air early on,” Coeur d’Alene coach Erik Karns said. “Our approaches weren’t very good. Offensively, we didn’t have the solid at-bats that we had in the previous three games.”

Jake Brown opened the scoring in the third inning, hitting a single to score Quinn Conces to give Coeur d’Alene a 1-0 lead before St. Anthony took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

In the seventh, St. Anthony loaded the bases after hitting two straight batters, with Trent Elstad scoring Brown with two out in the seventh for the go-ahead run.

Landon Vergeer allowed two runs and Bode Bailey pitched an inning of scoreless relief to keep Coeur d’Alene (39-16) within striking distance.

“The biggest thing for us is that we started Landon, who hasn’t pitched a lot lately and he really pitched well to contact,” Karns said. “Bode, he closed out an inning and we were able to use Jake (Brown, who got the win in relief) and he’ll be available to start tomorrow. It’s huge for us. Now we’ve got two starters available and we feel pretty good about that.”

In the late game, Rocky Mountain beat Burley 3-2.

The tournament concludes today with Coeur d’Alene facing Rocky Mountain at 11 a.m., with that winner advancing to the championship game against Burley at 1 p.m.