LEGION BASEBALL: Shorthanded Lums sweep Lewis-Clark

COEUR d’ALENE — Even without four players following graduation week, the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen swept the Lewis-Clark Twins 9-8 and 13-3 in a matchup of the only two class AA Legion teams in North Idaho on Sunday at Thorco Field.

“I think we are really coming into our own,” Lums coach Darren Taylor said. “We executed a bunch of hit-and-run plays very nicely, we hit the ball really well. They have a pretty good staff. Our pitchers did a pretty good job with their lineup, which is pretty dangerous. They’re going to be a force, so it was a good sweep for us.”

In the first game, Ty Shepard’s two-run double highlighted a four-run second inning for the Lums (6-4). Bryce Hall also drove in two runs for Coeur d’Alene, and Jesse Brown went 3 for 4 with an RBI.

Left-hander Kyle Seman saved it with two innings of relief.

“Kyle Seman saved the day in the first game,” Taylor said. “He came in and faced the meat of their lineup (in the sixth) and got out of a huge jam.”

In the second game, Owen Benson and Caden Robinett combined on a two-hitter, striking out six and walking two for Coeur d’Alene.

Hall was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored for the Lums, and Robinett had three hits and three RBIs on the day.

Hayden Line went 3 for 3 with three RBIs, including a two-run double in the sixth, and a run scored for Lewis-Clark (2-5) in the first game, and a two-run homer in the second game.

The Twins committed six errors in the second game, walked four batters and hit three.

Coeur d’Alene and Lewis-Clark will meet again in a doubleheader July 19 in Lewiston. As the only two AA teams in the North, both have already qualified for the state AA tournament July 24-29 at Thorco Field. Sunday’s games and the July 19 pair were supposed to determine seeding for the two teams to state. But with the Lums shorthanded, both coaches agreed that the teams’ meeting at this weekend’s Dwight Church Memorial tournament in Lewiston, plus the two games in July, will determine seeding to state.

“I’d like to take it back, after we swept them,” Taylor said with a laugh. “The assistant coaches are mad at me.”

The Lums open the Church tourney Friday vs. the Tri-City Titans at 1 p.m. at Lewis-Clark State’s Harris Field.

FIRST GAME

L-C 101 024 0 — 8 11 1

Lums 140 040 x — 9 10 1

Guy Krasselt, Trace Green (3), Toby Elliott (5) and Race Currin; AJ Currie, CJ Elliott (5), Kyle Seman (6) and Jared Taylor.

HITS: L-C — E. Taylor 2, Ricard 2, Line 3, Daniel 2, Barden, Krasselt. Cd’A — Hall, Shepard, Erickson, Brown 3, J. Taylor, Benson, Robinett 2. 2B — Line, Barden, Ricard, E. Taylor, Brown, Shepard.

SECOND GAME

L-C 200 010 — 3 2 6

Lums 140 413 — 13 8 2

Game called in 6th inning due to 10-run rule.

Sam Lindsley, Kaden Daniel (3), Cody Ray (4), E. Taylor (6) and Emmett Slagg; Owen Benson, Caden Robinett (5) and Jared Taylor.

HITS: L-C — E. Taylor, Line. Cd’A — Hall 2, Shepard, Erickson, Benson, Robinett, C. Elliott, Christ. 2B — Robinett, Benson. HR — Line.