Lumbermen Look For Lumber After 6-3 Loss To Woodinville

Paul Mather isn’t asking too much from the Atlas Lumbermen.

All the coach wants is some offense.

Four hits simply weren’t enough to carry the Coeur d’Alene team past Woodinville, Wash., in Friday’s nightcap of the fourth annual Cranston Memorial American Legion baseball tournament.

Woodinville used four unearned runs to establish an early lead, then held on for a 6-3 victory.

Round-robin play continues today at McEuen Field.

The four-day event concludes Sunday. The top two teams from each bracket advance, with the championship game set for 7 p.m.

Atlas slipped to 5-10. The Lumbermen draw Salem, Ore., tonight at 8.

In other Friday games, Salem rocked Glacier of Whitefish, Mont., 20-4, in five innings; LaVerne, Calif., stopped Trail, British Columbia, 14-3 in short innings; and Kennewick, Wash., turned back Bozeman, Mont., 8-3.

“We’re not very good offensively,” Mather said. “If we continue to do the same things and not make adjustments, we’re still going to have the same empty feeling we do tonight.”

The Lumbermen are also searching for a leader.

“We have to find that spark from your teammates,” Mather added. “There’s too many seniors to have it go this way.”

Woodinville’s (12-9) nucleus is 17-yearolds, coach Sherman Leach said.

“We’re asked to play in a senior league. The way to do that is to be aggressive,” Leach added. “Once in a while it backfires.”

Woodinville picked up five innings from starting pitcher Ernie Gerrer (3-1) before Jeremy Lennon earned the save.

Location posed a problem for Gerrer, who walked seven and hit another batter. The Lumbermen stranded 12 base runners.

Ryan Scharnhorst (1-1) went the distance for Atlas, yielding seven hits, including three in the seventh inning. He struck out two and walked two.

“Our pitching has been really good,” Mather said. “Somebody has to step up when we’ve got runners in scoring position.”

The Lumbermen scored all of their runs with two outs in the fourth. Courtesy runner Mark Scates was walked home, then infielder Jesse Hoorelebeke drove in two runs.

Woodinville went down in order in the fifth and sixth, before tacking on a pair of runs in the seventh.

Atlas put the potential game-tying runs on base in the seventh, but left the bases loaded.

Al Bevacqua led off the game with a home run as the Prairie Falcons topped the Lewis-Clark Twins 8-3 at the Scott Klaudt American Legion baseball tournament in Missoula.

Joel Gorham (3-1) scattered four singles.

The Twins, of Lewiston, scored twice in the sixth.