They got a taste of the state tournament last season in coach Dustin Frank's second year as coach of the Prairie Cardinals class AA American Legion baseball team.

And with 10 players back with experience from that club - the Cardinals are hungry for more this season.

Among the returners are Tyler Shaffer, who pitched at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake; Tony Davidson, who pitched and played outfield at the Community Colleges of Spokane; and Darnell Metcalf, who played first base at Shoreline (Wash.) Community College.

"I'm expecting them to pick up where we left off last year," said Frank, in his third year as Prairie coach. "We were really competitive by the end of the season. I hope we're start to pick it up from there."

Prairie opens the season today in the Border Wars tournament at McEuen Field in Coeur d'Alene against the Spokane Blue Devils at 5 p.m. They will face the Spokane North Stars on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and the Blue Devils again at 1 p.m. and conclude the tournament against the North Stars on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Prairie opens North Idaho League play against Coeur d'Alene on Monday at McEuen Field in a single game.

In the outfield will be a mix of Gil Givens, Davidson, Joe Schwalbach and Derek Bumgarner.

Givens was accepted to the United States Naval Academy and will pursue a career in hockey after the season.

Around the infield will be Nathan Collier and James Prockish at third base, Eric Cooper at shortstop, Taylor Valente at second base and Metcalf or Tyler Burnett at first base.

"This is a really good group," Frank said. "We should have a solid team. I'm expecting Coeur d'Alene and Lewis-Clark to have a tough squad again."

Prairie, in its second year under Frank, beat Lewis-Clark in the AA Area A (district) tournament second-place game to advance to state for the first time since 2003, where they went 1-2.

"We're in the third year of this team playing together," said Frank, who played for Prairie in 2002 and '03. "There's going to be a lot less growing pains. Hopefully they find themselves where they left off last year and go from there."

Collier and Jeremy McKinney are new to the program, with Dylan Charbonneau and Bumgarner up from the program's "A" team.

Shaffer, Davidson, Schwalbach, Zack Reeder and Collier will occupy the mound, while a rotation of Metcalf, James Prockish and Reeder will handle the catching.

"Pitching might be the strength of our team," Frank said. "Both Tyler and Tony got some experience in college and Joe, Zach and Nathan should be pretty good in the starting rotation."

McKinney, Bumgarner and Charbonneau will be counted on as relief pitchers.

"We're hoping they can come right in and contribute," Frank said. "I think we've got the skill to compete for a league title. Some of our young guys like James and Derek will have some big shoes to fill. I think they've got the potential and we're relying on them to step up and reach that."

With Lewis-Clark hosting the state tournament this year, the top two teams between Prairie, Coeur d'Alene, Trail (British Columbia) and Cranbrook (B.C.) will advance to state Aug. 1-5 at Harris Field in Lewiston.

"I think we've got the skill to do it," said Frank of advancing to state, "if we come together and play good baseball and continue to improve each game. Our goal is reaching our potential and getting everything we can out of this summer. I know we're going to have a solid team, but its going to be anyone's game."