LEGION BASEBALL: Two-time champs top Lums again
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 4 years, 2 months AGO
NAMPA — To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best at some point.
And for the second straight year, it was the best pitcher for the Idaho Falls Bandits that gave the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen fits in the state tournament.
Merit Jones, who has signed to play at Utah, struck out seven in six innings, allowing five hits as the Bandits beat the Lumbermen 9-1 in the second round of the state AA American Legion baseball tournament at Rodeo Park on Saturday night.
“He’s probably the toughest pitcher we’ve faced all summer,” second-year Coeur d’Alene coach Darren Taylor said. “He threw several pitches well and had a great slider. He’s the guy that got us last year and he did it again tonight. This team is by far the best team from the east this year.”
Coeur d’Alene (32-10) will face the Twin Falls Cowboys (25-16) in a loser-out game today at noon PDT. Idaho Falls (28-8-1), winners of the last two American Legion World Series (2021 and 2019), face the Pocatello Runnin' Rebels (28-13) today at 3 p.m.
Ryan Schneider singled to score Eric Bumbaugh to tie the game at 1-1 for Coeur d’Alene in the bottom of the first inning.
Nate Rose scored with two outs in the top of the third inning to give Idaho Falls a 2-1 lead. Rose, who finished with three hits, added a two-run single in the fifth as the Bandits scored four runs to stretch the lead to 6-1.
“They had a lot of clutch hits in that fifth inning,” said Taylor, whose team committed six errors. “(Coeur d’Alene pitcher Troy) Shepard had them wrapped up fairly well and we should have been ahead 1-0 going into the fifth, but we gave them some gifts. They’re a good hitting team and all four of their infielders made a great play to keep us off the scoreboard. They’re a pretty solid team. The thumb just came out of the dike and we got ourselves into a little bit of trouble.”
Idaho Falls 101 043 0 — 9 10 0
Coeur d’Alene 100 000 0 — 1 5 6
Merit Jones, Jaxon Grimmett (7) and RJ Woods; Troy Shepard, Jayden Butler (5), Owen Benson (6), Ethan Taylor (7) and Joe DuCoeur.
HITS: IF — E. Jones, Robinson, Luce 2, Rose 3, Horvath 2, Hall. Cd’A — Zeller, Manzardo, Schneider, E. Taylor, Erickson. 2B — none. 3B — none.
CLASS AA STATE TOURNAMENT
At Rodeo Park, Nampa
Friday’s Games
Area C No. 4 Upper Valley Bulldogs 6, Area C No. 1 Twin Falls Cowboys 5
Area A No. 1 Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen 12, Area C No. 5 Blackfoot Broncos 5
Area C No. 3 Pocatello Runnin’ Rebels 12, Area A No. 2 Lewis-Clark Twins 4
Area C No. 2 Idaho Falls Bandits 16, tournament host Nampa Chiefs 0
Saturday’s Games
Twin Falls Cowboys 8, Lewis-Clark Twins 1, loser out
Nampa Chiefs 12, Blackfoot Broncos 0, loser out
Pocatello Runnin' Rebels 17, Upper Valley Bulldogs 16
Idaho Falls Bandits 9, Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen 1
Sunday’s Games
Game 9 — Nampa Chiefs (13-14) vs. Upper Valley Bulldogs (16-13), 9 a.m., loser out
Game 10 — Twin Falls Cowboys (25-16) vs. Coeur d'Alene Lumbermen (32-10), noon, loser out
Game 11 — Pocatello Runnin' Rebels (28-13) vs. Idaho Falls Bandits (28-8-1), 3 p.m.
Monday’s Games
Game 12 — Winner Game 9 vs. Loser Game 11, 9 a.m.
Game 13 — Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11, noon (semifinals)
Tuesday’s Games
Game 14 — Winner Game 12 vs. Winner Game 13, 9 a.m. (championship game)
Game 15 — Winner Game 14 vs. Loser Game 14, noon (if necessary)
Washington AA state tourney
Kennewick 6
Lums 17U 0
SELAH, Wash. — Coeur d’Alene, last year’s state champions, managed just two hits in a loss to the Phantoms in the first round of the Washington state AA tournament at Archer Field.
Jared Taylor singled in the third inning and Isaac Ziegler doubled in the fifth for Coeur d’Alene (42-6-1), which plays Gonzaga Prep today at 10 a.m. in a loser-out game.
Ambrose Driver struck out eight and walked two in a two-hit shutout for Kennewick, which did all its damage in the first two innings, starting with a four-run first.
Kennewick 420 000 0 — 6 9 1
Coeur d’Alene 000 000 0 — 0 2 1
Ambrose Driver and Carter Poland; CJ Elliott; Kyle Seman (2), Paxon Bunch (6) and Jared Taylor.
HITS: Ken — Poland 4, Driver, Salisbury, Harper 2, Moxley. Cd’A — Ziegler, Taylor. 2B — Driver, Ziegler.