Prairie, Lums win on first day
COEUR d’ALENE — Brock Zeller had two hits and got the win on the mound as the No. 3 seed Prairie Cardinals defeated the No. 2 seed Lewis-Clark Twins 6-2 in the first round of the class AA Area A (district) tournament Friday at Thorco Field.
Tanner McCliment-Call and Matt Fleming each homered for Prairie (12-20-1), which will play top seed Coeur d’Alene in a semifinal game today at 4. Coeur d’Alene (29-15-1) beat No. 4 Northern Lakes (16-29) 10-0 in five innings on Friday night.
Lewis-Clark (22-18) will face Northern Lakes today at 1 p.m. in a loser-out game.
Lewis-Clark is already assured a berth state, since the Twins are the host team for the event at Harris Field in Lewiston. The highest-finishing team between Coeur d’Alene, Prairie and Northern Lakes will join L-C at state.
Fleming hit a two-run homer in the top of the first for Prairie. McCliment-Call led off the fourth with a homer to make it 3-0. Spencer Zeller hit an RBI single in the fifth for the Cardinals, and Ethan Miller added a run-scoring infield single in the sixth.
Brock Zeller scattered seven hits in seven innings, striking out two and walking one.
Dawson Bonfield hit a solo homer for Lewis-Clark in the sixth.
Alex Karns’ two-run home run highlighted a nine-run third inning as Coeur d’Alene beat Northern Lakes.
“We needed some production with runners on base and we got it,” Coeur d’Alene coach Erik Karns said. “Before then, (Northern Lakes starter) Nicholas Welch did a good job keeping us off balance. We stayed patient, and were able to string together some hits. That was one of the most productive innings we’ve had all season.”
Marcus Manzardo went 3 for 3 and drove in two runs, Landen Thompson was 2 for 3 and drove in two runs, and Quinn Conces, making his season debut at leadoff hitter due to an injury, was 2 for 3 and scored three times. Brandon Gay and Conces teamed to strike out five and allow two hits.
PRAIRIE 6, LEWIS-CLARK 2
Prairie 200 111 1 — 6 8 0
Lewis-Clark 000 101 0 — 2 7 0
Brock Zeller and Zach Clark; Dylan Mader, Trent Reel (7) and Austin Kolb.
HITS: Pra — B. Zeller 2, S. Zeller, McCliment-Call 2, Fleming, Chase, Miller. L-C — Daniel, Stout, Bonfield, Acree, Barajas 2, Kolb. 2B — McCliment-Call, B. Zeller, Stout. HR — McCliment-Call, Fleming, Bonfield.
Cd’A 10, NORTHERN LAKES 0
N. Lakes 000 00 — 0 2 1
Cd’A 009 01 — 10 11 0
Nicholas Welch, Cole Strietzel (3) and Trevor Vandever; Brandon Gay, Quinn Conces (3) and Landen Thompson.
HITS: NL — Welch, Pete. Cd’A — Conces 2, Manzardo 3, Thompson 2, Brown 2, Karns, Kraak. 2B — Brown, Manzardo, Thompson. HR — Karns.