LEGION BASEBALL: Lums let two slip away at Missoula tourney to open season

MISSOULA — A few plays here and there, and the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen “AA” team could have set itself up for another run to the championship game of the Missoula Mavericks Memorial Day Tournament.

Instead, there’s some work to be done today.

Coeur d’Alene went 0-2 to open the season on Saturday, falling 7-3 to the Helena Senators and 9-8 to Vauxhall (Alberta) Academy on the first day of the tournament at Lindborg-Cregg Field.

“We just botched a couple of bunt plays,” said second-year Coeur d’Alene coach Darren Taylor, whose team committed two errors in the fifth inning to allow Helena to score five runs in the frame. “We were hitting the ball really hard, but right at guys in key moments. We really weren’t rewarded for as well as we hit it.”

Ethan Taylor walked and scored on an error in the second inning to give Coeur d’Alene a 1-0 lead. Joe DuCoeur drove in two runs for the Lumbermen against Helena.

Ryan Schneider and Eric Bumbaugh had two RBIs each for the Lumbermen against Vauxhall Academy, in a game called after six innings due to the tournament’s time limit.

“We just made some mistakes on some ground balls,” Darren Taylor said. “We had a chance to come back and win it, but we just couldn’t pull it off in the end. We had a lot of good things happen today.”

Coeur d’Alene faces North Idaho League foe Lewis-Clark at Ogren Park to continue tournament play today at 9 a.m. PDT, then faces tournament host Missoula on Monday.

Lewis-Clark (1-0) beat Missoula 14-12 on Saturday.

The top two teams will meet in the championship game on Monday afternoon.

HELENA SENATORS 7, COEUR d’ALENE 3

Helena Senators 000 510 1 — 7 11 3

Coeur d’Alene 010 020 0 — 3 4 2

William Lyng, Hunter. Bratcher (4), Luke Dowdy (6), Tyler Tenney (7) and Trysten Mooney; Troy Shepard, Owen Benson (5), AJ Currie (7) and Joe DuCoeur.

HITS: HS — Tr. Mooney, Tenney, Bratcher, Hurlbert 2, Ty. Mooney, Thennis 2, Melo 2, Bennett. Cd’A — Bridge, Zeller 2, DuCoeur. 2B — Thennis, Zeller.

VAUXHALL ACADEMY 9, COEUR d’ALENE 8

Vauxhall Academy 204 300 — 9 7 0

Coeur d’Alene 422 000 — 8 10 1

D. Lenehan, M. DeRuyck (2), K. Andersen (3) and C. Fisher; Ryan Schneider, AJ Currie (3), Jesse Brown (4) and Joe DuCoeur.

HITS: VA — Shakotko, Bendfeld, McTavish 2, Ranger, Pearce, DeRuyck. Cd’A — Bridge, Zeller, Schneider, C. Erickson, Larson, Bumbaugh 2, L. Erickson, Brown, Hall. 2B — Schneider, Bumbaugh, Bridge.

North Idaho 3-8

Northern Lakes 1-17

SANDPOINT — Zeke Roop struck out 11 in the opener for the Lakers in a win over the Mountaineers in the first game at Memorial Field.

In the nightcap, Northern Lakes scored 12 runs and drew nine walks in the seventh inning to rally for the split of the nonleague doubleheader between class “A” North Idaho League foes.

“We just looked rusty in that first game,” third-year Northern Lakes coach Bryce Johnson said. “Of the eight runners we left on base, six were in scoring position, so it looked like we’d taken a few weeks off.”

Caden Robinett had nine strikeouts and two hits for Northern Lakes in the first game.

“We played pretty clean defensively and Caden threw the ball really well,” Johnson said. “We just looked a little rusty.”

Northern Lakes, which trailed 8-5 in the seventh inning of the second game, took the lead for good on a three-run double by Payden Wysong, who finished with four RBis.

“Overally, it was a great day,” Johnson said. “There was a lot more good than bad.”

Ethan Butler drove in four runs in the second game for North Idaho.

Northern Lakes hosts the Clark Fork Valley Riverdogs of Plains, Mont., for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on June 5 at Gorton Field in Rathdrum.

FIRST GAME

Northern Lakes 000 001 0 — 1 5 1

North Idaho 002 001 x — 3 6 4

Caden Robinett and Sam Pemberton; Zeke Roop, Alex Leverich (6) and Trevor Brackett.

HITS: NL — Wysong, Robinett 2, Hessing 2. NI — Bocksch 2, Mellander 2, Roop, Brackett. 3B — Bocksch.

SECOND GAME

Northern Lakes 010 301 (12) — 17 8 2

North Idaho 520 001 0 — 8 6 1

Payden Wysong, Kenny Wells (2) and Sam Pemberton; Jack Ringer, Ethan Butler (4), Finn-Erik Mellander (7), Alex Leverich (7), Mick Koch (7), Cameron Garcia (7) and Dillon Terry, Zeke Roop (5).

HITS: NL — Wysong, Wells, Pemberton, Hessing, Kitchin 2, Lenz 2. NI — Bocksch, Koch 2, Butler, Leverich, Terry. 2B — Kitchin, Wysong. 3B — Butler, Terry.