Brown leads Lums to victory over Prairie
LOREN BENOIT/Press Coeur d’Alene Lumberman Bennett Cunningham fields a throw at second on a steal in Thursday’s game against Prairie at Post Falls High School.
Prairie’s Matt Fleming delivers a pitch in a game against The Coeur d’Alene Lumberman Thursday afternoon at Post Falls High School. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
POST FALLS — Jake Brown, batting eighth in the order, went 2 for 4 with four RBIs and three runs scored as the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen outlasted the Prairie Cardinals 12-6 in a class AA American Legion North Idaho League baseball game Thursday at Post Falls High.
Brown hit a two-run triple in the fourth inning and a two-run double in the fifth for Coeur d’Alene (3-0, 3-0 NIL).
“He got the clutch hit that got us going,” Coeur d’Alene coach Kevin Dunton said. “That two-out triple really woke us up, and then we played add-on after that. He swung the bat real well.”
Prairie (2-7, 0-1) jumped out on top first, as Seth Villanpando’s two-run double keyed a three-run second inning for the Cardinals.
Jack Bloom hit an RBI single for Coeur d’Alene in the fourth. Brown tripled in two runs and then scored on an error, putting the Lums up 4-3.
Tanner McCliment-Call’s RBI double in the bottom of the fourth tied it at four.
Back-to-back doubles by Carter Friesz and Michael Dooley in the fifth put the Lums up 5-4 and triggered a six-run inning. Brown added his two-run double, and Brady Thompson’s two-run single made it 10-4.
Levi Haen, who earned the victory with five innings of relief, hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth to make it 11-4.
Andrew Davidson answered with a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to pull Prairie within 11-6.
The Lums’ Bennett Cunningham capped the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the seventh.
Jack Bloom, who hadn’t pitched in a couple of years, pitched the first two inning in a spot start for the Lums.
“He did a respectable job,” Dunton said. “He gave us two good innings. Levi came in and shut them down the rest of the way, which was good because we were at the end of our rope, pitching wise.”
Five Prairie pitchers combined to walk 14 Lums batters. Coeur d’Alene pitchers issued five free passes.
Prairie begins play today at a wood-bat tournament in Sandpoint.
Coeur d’Alene’s next scheduled game is next Friday, vs. Prairie at 5 p.m. at Post Falls High.
Lums 000 461 1 — 12 8 2
Prairie 030 102 0 — 6 9 1
Jack Bloom, Levi Haen (3) and Carter Friesz; Matt Fleming, Trevor Vandever (4), Seth Villanpando (5), Skylar Allen (6), Tanner McCliment-Call (7) and Dan Pearse. W — Haen. L — Vandever.
HITS: Cd’A — Haen, Thompson, Friesz, Dooley, Bloom, Cunningham, Brown 2. Pra — Villanpando 2, McCliment-Call 2, Vandever, Davidson, S. Zeller 3. 2B — Dooley, Friesz, Brown, Villanpando, McCliment-Call 2. 3B — Brown. HR — Davidson.