POST FALLS — The host Prairie Cardinals held off elimination as they defeated the Cranbrook (British Columbia) Bandits 13-9 in a loser-out game Friday in the Class AA Area A (district) tournament at Post Falls High.

Prairie starting pitcher Derek Tymesen had three strikeouts and opened the scoring in the first inning, coming around to score on a Darnell Metcalf double. Bryson Smith hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring in Metcalf for a 2-0 lead.

“We started coming through with some clutch hits,” Tymesen said. “We were able to make some big defensive plays in the field when we needed to get out of some spots. It was really an all-around team effort.”

Tymesen had four hits, three for doubles, with three runs scored for Prairie (14-26), which faces Trail (B.C.) today in a loser-out game at 1:30 p.m.

“At this point it’s win or go home,” Tymesen said. “We knew we had to play our ‘A’ game and lived to see another day.”

“Derek did a good job today,” Prairie coach Dustin Frank said. “We haven’t gotten him a lot of reps this season and he started to lose it a bit in the fourth and fifth inning. (Nik) Leva came in and did what he could and then I asked Jake Coleman to throw strikes — and that’s what he did.”

Cranbrook, which fell to Trail 8-7 earlier Friday, battled back from a 7-0 deficit after the second inning to pull with four runs in the eighth inning on a three-run home run by Liam McCullum.

“We played a great game this morning,” Cranbrook coach Kyle Krustangel said. “A couple of hits here and there, we probably could have won that game. But we got down against Prairie and put up a good fight.”

Krustangel was ejected from the game after arguing a balk call in the fifth inning.

“It’s been a tough week of baseball,” Krustangel said. “We had a good day today, but you’ve got to get a ‘W’ to move on. It’s always tough to come back, but we put up a good fight.”

Cranbrook finishes the season 8-32.

Even with the win, Frank knows it will take a better effort today if the team wants to finish the season strong.

“We definitely should be playing better right now,” Frank said. “They (Cranbrook) kept fighting back and we let them hang around. We put forth the effort, but the mental preparation wasn’t there today. We’ve got to improve on our mistakes or we’ll be done too.”

n In other games: Lewis-Clark starting pitcher Johnny Rake struck out eight as the Twins defeated the Trail Jays 21-1 in seven innings.

Lewis-Clark will face Coeur d’Alene today at 10 a.m. for a berth in the district championship game. The winner also clinches a berth to state.

In the first game of the day, the Trail Jays rallied from a 7-5 deficit to defeat Cranbrook 8-7 in a game postponed from Thursday due to a bus accident involving the Trail team.

Brady Glover had three hits and two RBIs for the Jays (19-21).

PRAIRIE 13, CRANBROOK 9

Cranbrook 002 301 030 — 9 13 4

Prairie 252 310 00x — 13 15 2

Jordan Armstrong, Memphis Vondracek and Jesse Theis; Derek Tymesen, Nik Leva (6), Jacob Coleman (8) and Darnell Metcalf. W — Tymesen. L — Armstrong.

HITS: Cran — Armstrong 3, Bry. Johnson, Juricic 3, Bone 3, McCullum, Maisonneuve 2, Pra — Tymesen 4, Metcalf, Greiser 2, South 3, Vandever, VanDuyne, Smith 4, Shaffer, 2B — Bry. Johnson, Tymesen 3, Metcalf, Greiser.

TRAIL 8, CRANBROOK 7

Cranbrook 210 110 0 — 7 8 3

Trail 200 000 33x — 8 13 2

Jason Berg and Jesse Theis; Jeff Sidey and Kyle Paulson. W — Sidey. L — Berg.

HITS: Cran — Vondracek, Bone, Ry. Johnson, Theis, Br. Johnson, Durban 2. Tra — Sidey, Kucher 2, Glover 3, Strachan 2, Ni. Rypien, Je. Rypien 2, Paulson 2.

Class AA Area A Tournament

At Post Falls High

Thursday, July 22

Trail (18-21) vs. Cranbrook (8-30), postponed due to bus accident

Coeur d’Alene 15, Prairie 5, 7 innings

Friday, July 23

Trail 8, Cranbrook 7

Prairie 13, Cranbrook 9 (Cranbrook out)

Lewis-Clark 21, Trail 1, 7 innings

Saturday, July 24

Game 5 — Coeur d’Alene (20-25) vs. Lewis-Clark (32-6), 10 a.m.

Game 6 — Prairie (14-26) vs. Trail (19-22), 1:30 p.m.

Game 7 — Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 5, 5 p.m.

Sunday, July 25

Game 8 — Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7, noon (championship).

Game 9 — Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 8, 3:30 p.m. (if necessary).