LEGION BASEBALL: Lums lose twice, but will play for tourney title
MISSOULA, Mont. — On a day where they lost two games on the field and lost a key player to injury, the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen still managed to work its way into today’s championship game of the Missoula Mavericks Memorial Day Tournament.
Coeur d’Alene lost 14-8 to the Helena Senators, considered one of the top Legion baseball teams in Montana, then fell 7-6 to the Missoula Mavericks, both at Lindborg-Cregg Field.
But, thanks to owning a run-differential tiebreaker over the Mavericks, a team the Lums beat 8-2 on Saturday, Coeur d’Alene will get another shot at Helena today in the title game of the four-team tourney, scheduled for 2 p.m. PDT at Ogren Park.
“We hit it really well,” said Lums coach Darren Taylor, whose team totaled 22 hits in two games for the second straight day. “But our pitching — way too many walks and hit batters hurt us. Especially against Helena — their two rallies were sandwiched around walks and hit batters.”
Marcus Manzardo went 5 for 9 and drove in six runs on the day for Coeur d’Alene (2-2). Against Helena, the lefty hitting Manzardo hit a three-run inside-the-park home run to right center field, past a diving center fielder. Jackson Scherr was 5 for 6 on the day with three RBIs.
“Marcus was just on fire,” Taylor said. “Jackson had another great day as well.”
Manzardo’s homer keyed a six-run fifth that pulled Coeur d’Alene within 9-8. But the Lums hit the first Helena batter in the bottom of the inning, then walked the next two, and the Senators scored four runs.
Joe DuCoeur drove in a pair of runs in the opener for the Lums, who walked six and hit three.
Against Missoula, Manzardo hit a two-run double, then scored on a single by Scherr, to highlight a four-run uprising in the top of the seventh that tied the game at 6.
But the Mavs loaded the bases on a walk and two errors in the bottom of the seventh. The Lums got one out on a forceout at home. But, when the catcher threw to first in hopes of a double play, the Mavs runner collided with Lums first baseman Lucas Erickson just as the ball arrived. The ball trickled away and the winning run scored, and Erickson was taken to the hospital after the game with what Taylor said was a broken left wrist.
Taylor said Erickson was off to a strong start to his season with the Lums.
“Owen Benson threw really well in the second game, kept them off-balance,” Taylor said.
Missoula and the Bitterroot Red Sox will play for third place today.
HELENA 14, COEUR d’ALENE 8
Cd’A 101 060 0 — 8 12 0
Helena 810 041 x — 14 12 1
Jackson Scherr, Lucas Erickson (1), Zach Garza (5) and Joe DuCoeur; E. Burke, T. Cutler (3), E. Keintz (5) and T. Mooney.
HITS: Cd’A — Larson 2, Schneider, Manzardo 2, Scherr, DuCoeur 2, Erickson, Garza 2. Hel — Burton, Bratcher 2, Keintz, Seliskar 3, Thennis, Hurlbert 2, Belcher 2. 2B — Scherr 2, DuCoeur, Bratcher, Seliskar, Burton. 3B — Seliskar, Keintz. HR — Manzardo.
MISSOULA 7, COEUR d’ALENE 6
Cd’A 001 010 4 — 6 10 3
Missoula 001 230 1 — 7 9 2
Owen Benson, Joe DuCoeur (5) and Jackson Scherr; Z. Hangas and A. Claussen.
HITS: Cd’A — Manzardo 3, Scherr 3, Schneider, Erickson, Garza 2. Miss — Jones, Kirkgan, Palmer, Johnson 2, Jordan, Claussen 2, Bay. 2B — Manzardo 2, Palmer. 3B — Kirkgan, Johnson.