LEGION BASEBALL: Lums runners-up at Missoula tourney
MISSOULA, Mont. — After dropping their first two round-robin games, the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen AA squad battled back to reach the championship game of the season-opening Missoula Mavericks Memorial Day Tournament for the third straigh year, before falling to the Vauxhall (Alberta) Academy of Baseball Spurs 18U squad 9-1 in the title game Monday at Lindborg-Cregg Memorial Field.
In the title game, Coeur d’Alene trailed 2-1 before Vauxhall scored three times in the fifth inning and four in the sixth to end the game on the tourney’s eight-run rule.
CJ Elliott pitched four strong innings for the Lums, striking out four and walking one. Elliott, who played golf at Genesis Prep Academy in the spring, threw 44 pitches on Saturday for Coeur d’Alene’s A team, which was playing in the A bracket at the Missoula tourney.
After a day of rest, Elliott threw 60 pitches on Monday.
“He threw so well,” Coeur d’Alene coach Darren Taylor said. “That’s the best team I’ve coached against, better than Idaho Falls. That’s like a college team, and he had them on the ropes the whole time.”
Earlier Monday, Eric Bumbaugh singled in Travis Usdrowski with two out in the top of the 10th inning, lifting the Lums (2-3) past the Missoula Mavericks 4-3 and into the title game via a run differential tiebreaker.
Bumbaugh finished 4 for 6 and scored twice.
Isaac Ziegler was 2 for 4 and drove in two runs. He also started the game on the mound and allowed one run in four innings. Cooper Erickson pitched the final six innings in relief, allowing five hits, and the only two runs he allowed were unearned.
“Ziegler threw really well, then he tweaked his hip, and we took him out,” Taylor said. “Cooper Erickson threw a gem; he just got better and better.”
In the title game Bryce Hall singled to lead off the game for the Lums, and scored on a groundout by Jesse Brown.
Cardel Dick hit a two-run triple in the bottom of the fifth for Vauxhall, and scored on a sacrifice fly to boost the Spurs’ lead to 5-1. Colin Fisher’s two-run single in the sixth ended the game.
Vauxhall beat the Lums 8-5 on Saturday. Dick was 5 for 7 with six RBIs and four runs scored in two games vs. Cd’A.
Coeur d’Alene fell to the Helena Senators in the 2021 title game, and beat Vauxhall last year.
Taylor had praise for his pitchers in the five games in three days in Missoula. AJ Currie and Owen Benson pitched on Saturday, and Caden Robinett threw on Sunday.
“We’ve got a good rotation that could get us through these long tournaments,” Taylor said. “We’ve got to pick it up offensively; we left a lot of people on base.”
Coeur d’Alene will play host to the Inland Northwest Iron Pigs, a men’s amateur baseball team, Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Thorco Field.
LUMS 4, MISSOULA 3, 10 INN.
Coeur d’Alene 002 010 000 1 — 4 12 3
Missoula 010 011 000 0 — 3 8 0
Isaac Ziegler, Cooper Erickson (5) and Joe DuCoeur; Blake Taft, Owen McGuinn (6), Luke Thorne (10) and Jace Bykari.
HITS: Cd’A — Hall, Bumbaugh 3, Brown 2, Ziegler 2, Erickson, Benson, Christ. Miss — Matosich, Black 3, Compton, McGuinn, Bykari 2. 2B — Compton, Matosich. 3B — Bumbaugh, Black.
VAUXHALL 9, LUMS 1
Coeur d’Alene 100 000 — 1 4 1
Vauxhall 200 034 — 9 6 0
Game called in 6th inning due to tourney’s 8-run rule.
CJ Elliott, Karl Schwarzer (5), Kyle Seman (6) and Tristan Usdrowski; Jack Baxter, Brett Getz (5) and Colin Fisher.
HITS: Cd’A — Hall 2, Bumbaugh, Usdrowski. Vaux — Dick 2, Yip, Fisher, Laurence, Cavsen. 2B — Usdrowski, Laurence. 3B — Dick.