LEGION BASEBALL: Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Wood Bat Tournament: Schneider, Shepard pitch Lums to tourney title

SPOKANE — Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen “AA” coach Darren Taylor saved his top two pitchers — both left-handers — for the championship round Monday, and the move paid off big-time.

Ryan Schneider pitched a two-hit shutout in the semifinals, and Troy Shepard took a shutout into the seventh inning in the championship game as the Lums won the Senior Division of the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Wood Bat Tournament at Shadle Park High’s Al K. Jackson Field.

Schneider struck out 11 and walked one as the Lums beat the Spokane Expos Oye 6-0 in the semis.

Shepard fanned eight and scattered four hits in the title game as Coeur d’Alene beat the Spokane Expos 19U 9-1.

“A couple special young men — nice kids, too,” Taylor said of Schneider, who has signed with Division I Belmont in Nashville, and Shepard, who redshirted this season at Community Colleges of Spokane. “They really dominated. That second team we beat, they can hit it, and Troy stifled them from start to finish.”

In the title game, Eric Bumbaugh went 4 for 4 with a double, three RBIs and three runs scored for Coeur d’Alene (24-7). He had an RBI single in a five-run second inning, a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 7-0, and a run-scoring double in the seventh, then scored the Lums’ final run on a single by Marcus Manzardo.

Schneider had an RBI single in the first inning, and a two-run single in the second inning. Kyle Bridge and Joe DuCoeur each had run-scoring singles in the second.

In the semis, Cooper Larson and Cooper Erickson had two hits each, and Joe DuCoeur had an RBI single to cap a three-run seventh as the Lums pulled away.

“We did a good job on offense creating runs, especially in the first game,” Taylor said. “We put a lot of pressure on the defense.”

Coeur d’Alene finished 7-0 in the tourney, beating four different Spokane Expos teams along the way.

Next up for the Lums is a tournament in Whitefish, Mont., starting Thursday with a game against the Spokane Cannons 18U.

In the Junior Division, the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen 17U "A" team won the championship, beating the River City Thunder 16U Caston 8-0 in the title game at Thorco Field in Coeur d'Alene.

COEUR d’ALENE 6, SPOKANE EXPOS OYE 0

Coeur d’Alene 001 020 3 — 6 10 1

Expos Oye 000 000 0 — 0 2 1

Ryan Schneider and Joe DuCoeur; Expos battery unavailable.

HITS: Cd’A — Zeller, Manzardo, Schneider, DuCoeur, Larson 2, E. Taylor, Erickson 2, Bridge. Exp — N/A. 2B — Zeller.

COEUR d’ALENE 9, SPOKANE EXPOS 19U 1

Coeur d’Alene 150 010 2 — 9 12 0

Expos 19U 000 000 1 — 1 4 0

Troy Shepard and Joe DuCoeur; Expos battery unavailable.

HITS: Cd’A — Bumbaugh 4, Manzardo 2, Schneider 2, DuCoeur, E. Taylor, C. Erickson, Bridge. Exp — N/A.