LEGION BASEBALL: Lums top Twins for AA district title

LEWISTON — Both teams were already headed to state, but the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen still saw plenty to play for in Sunday’s deciding game for the Class AA Area A tournament championship.

Marcus Manzardo went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, and the Lumbermen led from start to finish and beat the Lewis-Clark Twins 7-4 at Harris Field to win the best-of-3 series 2 games to 1.

“I saw it as a dress rehearsal for state,” second-year Coeur d’Alene coach Darren Taylor said. “We played a good-hitting team with good pitching, like we’ll see down there (at state).”

Coeur d’Alene (31-9) will open state vs. the fifth-place team from Area C (eastern Idaho) on Friday at noon PDT at Rodeo Park in Nampa.

Lewis-Clark (19-17) will open vs. the Area C third-place team Friday at 3 p.m. PDT.

Eight of the nine players got hits for Coeur d’Alene, which won its third straight Area A title. The Lums also won in 2021 and 2019; there was no Area A tourney in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Manzardo doubled in Eric Bumbaugh in the first inning for Coeur d’Alene, then scored on a wild pitch.

In the third, Spencer Zeller walked, Manzardo singled and Ryan Schneider walked to load the bases. Joe DuCoeur delivered a sacrifice fly, Cooper Larson singled in Manzardo, Ethan Taylor singled in Schneider, and Kyle Bridge’s single scored Larson.

Zeller tripled in the fourth, and scored on Manzardo’s sacrifice fly.

“Timely hitting, and some gritty pitching,” Taylor said. “That’s probably the best hitting team we’ve faced all year. They got to Owen (Benson) a little bit, but he fought through it. Jayden Butler was phenomenal; he shut the door on them, got all their good hitters out. Pretty special stuff.”

Butler pitched two shutout innings of relief, striking out two, walking one and allowing one hit.

Leadoff hitter Quinton Edmison went 4 for 4 with two doubles and scored two runs for Lewis-Clark.

Coeur d’Alene 204 100 0 — 7 9 0

Lewis-Clark 103 000 0 — 4 10 0

Owen Benson, Jayden Butler (6) and Joe DuCoeur; Carson Kolb, Elliott Taylor (3), Cruz Hepburn (6) and Wyatt Lopez.

HITS: — Bumbaugh, Zeller, Manzardo 2, Schneider, DuCoeur, Larson, E. Taylor, Bridge. LC — Edmison 4, Taylor, Hepburn 2, Ricard, Bensching, Barden. 2B — Manzardo, Edmison 2. 3B — Zeller.

Lums 17U team wins

Washington district title

SPOKANE — C. Elliott, Kyle Seman and J. Cohen combined on a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts, and the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen 17U squad pounded Mead 16-1 in the championship game of the Washington Class AA district tournament at Shadle Park High’s Al K. Jackson Field.

Both Coeur d’Alene (42-5-1) and Mead advance to state in Selah, Wash., beginning Saturday.

The Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen 16U team fell one game short of state on Sunday. The Lums beat Colville 2-0, then lost 4-3 to Gonzaga Prep for the district’s third and final berth to state.

Bryce Hall went 2 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs scored for the Lums 17U team in the title game. Nolan Christ and Travis Usdrowski each went 2 for 2 and scored two runs, and Isaac Ziegler and Paxon Bunch each drove in three runs.

For the Lums 16U against Colville, Charlie Dixon pitched a four-hit shutout for Coeur d’Alene, striking out two and walking one. He also went 3 for 3

Jack Pierce was 2 for 3 and scored both runs, on a single by Tanner Franklin and a sacrifice fly by Clifford Eddington.

Against Gonzaga Prep, Pierce, Mark Holecek, Hudson Kramer and Jayson Ross each had two hits for the Lums, but Prep won it on a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Lums 16U finished 33-14-1.

• In the Class A Area A tournament at Harris Field in Lewiston, the Lewis-Clark Cubs beat the North Idaho Lakers 11-4 in the championship game.