LEGION BASEBALL: Lums fall in regular-season finale, head to state 'AA' tourney next week
MARK NELKE/Press Travis Usdrowski of the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen braces as he is being hit by a pitch in the fourth inning of a game against the Missoula Mavericks on Tuesday at Thorco Field.
MARK NELKE/Press Kolbe Coey of the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen watches the 15th pitch of the at-bat sail just out of the strike zone for ball four in the fourth inning against the Missoula Mavericks on Tuesday at Thorco Field. Coey fouled off 10 pitches in the at-bat, including six in a row, before drawing a bases-loaded walk to put the Lums on the board.
COEUR d’ALENE — Normally, 12 baseballs is plenty for a single game at Thorco Field.
On Tuesday, Coeur d’Alene’s Kolbe Coey tested that theory in the bottom of the fourth inning.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Coey battled back to force a full count, fouling off six straight pitches, 10 total in the at-bat, before drawing a walk to score the Lumbermen’s first run of the game against the Missoula Mavericks at Thorco Field.
“It was really inspiring to see,” Coeur d’Alene coach Darren Taylor said. “We only had a dozen baseballs for the game because I didn’t think we’d need more than that and we were scrambling a little bit there. But it was a great at-bat and really got us back into it.”
Carter Taylor had three hits and four RBIs for the Mavericks (40-23), who held on to beat the Lumbermen 9-5 in the regular season finale for Cd'A.
Isaac Ziegler had two hits for Coeur d’Alene (20-14), which is idle until the class AA state tournament at Halliwell Park in Pocatello starting July 25.
“We might have been a little tired after playing five games last weekend in Whitefish,” said Taylor, whose team won the Ed Gallo Memorial Tournament on Sunday. “We were just trying to set things up for next week and make sure to get some guys in, which was good to see.”
Missoula 004 203 0 — 9 9 0
Coeur d’Alene 000 101 3 — 5 5 2
Brennan Labbe, Colin Boyce (5) and Rylan Davis; Isaac Ziegler, Austin DeBoer (5), Travis Usdrowski (7) and Chase Saunders, Mark Holecek (6).
HITS: MM — Taylor 3, McGuinn, Bykari, Boyce 2, Fairchild, R. Davis, Labbe. Cd’A — Ziegler 2, Coey, Newby 2. 2B — McGuinn, Taylor, Ziegler, Coey.
MARK NELKE/Press Kolbe Coey of the Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen watches the 15th pitch of the at-bat sail just out of the strike zone for ball four in the fourth inning against the Missoula Mavericks on Tuesday at Thorco Field. Coey fouled off 10 pitches in the at-bat, including six in a row, before drawing a bases-loaded walk to put the Lums on the board.