COEUR d'ALENE - With the game tied at 3 in the fourth inning, and Coeur d'Alene without starting first baseman Sean Sutton due to injury, it was up to one of the other Vikings to come through in the clutch.

On Tuesday it was his older brother, D.J., that got a hit to get the Viking offense going.

D.J. Sutton hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, and the Coeur d'Alene Vikings went on to beat the Post Falls Trojans 13-6 in a 5A Inland Empire League game at Ted Page Field.

Sean Sutton, a sophomore, left the game in the fourth inning after a throw from second base bounced in front of his glove and struck him above the eye, opening a gash. With two out and two runners on, D.J Sutton hit a fly ball over the left field fence to give the Vikings the lead for good at 6-3.

"The pitch before that was an off-speed pitch I almost swung at," said D.J. Sutton, a senior. "I was looking fastball and he (Post Falls pitcher Ryan Hunt) gave me a fastball a little high up and I turned on it and got it over the fence."

"Sean's a great kid and did a great job of hanging in on that ball," Coeur d'Alene coach Nick Rook said. "He just had some bad luck catching it in the eye, but good for D.J. squaring up that pitch and helping us take the lead."

Coeur d'Alene (19-2, 11-0 5A IEL) has now won 19 straight after opening the season with a pair of losses to Rocky Mountain in Meridian.

"Our kids did a good job with their energy level today," Rook said. "I thought they've done a really good job at the plate the last couple of games with their approach."

Nick Nyquist, Levi Pereira and Bubba Duran also homered for Coeur d'Alene in a five-run fifth inning.

"I think our guys are doing a great job of developing their upper bodies during the offseason," Rook said. "You can really see it come out in swings like they had today. They're seeing the ball, getting in rhythm and getting behind the ball and squaring up pitches."

Coeur d’Alene, which long ago clinched the league title and top seed to the 5A Region 1 tournament, concludes the regular season by hosting Lake City on Thursday.

“These guys are doing a really good job of focusing on the pitch and trying to win each pitch,” Rook said. “We’re leaving everything at that and not worried about next week yet. We’re worried about playing solid against Lake City on Thursday and finishing things off and then let Monday take care of Monday.”

Nate Gomer and Kurtis Wiltse had two hits apiece for Post Falls (9-9, 5-7), which concludes the regular season with a nonleague game against Lakeland today in Post Falls.

“I was proud of our kids,” Post Falls coach Dustin Frank said. “We faced some adversity with kids getting behind in counts. We were able to come back in that fourth inning and I was proud of how they responded.”

Ryan Hunt had two RBIs for Post Falls.

“Hats off to Coeur d’Alene,” Frank said. “They came out and hit the ball when they had to and put on a hitting clinic. Sometimes you’ve got to tip your hat to your opponent.”

With Lewiston sweeping Lake City on Tuesday, Post Falls will be the No. 3 seed to regionals and will travel to No. 2 Lewiston on Monday in the first round. No. 4 Lake City will play at Coeur d’Alene on Monday.

Lewiston (9-11, 5-7) held the tiebreaker over Post Falls after beating the Trojans in 3 of 4 games this season.

“I feel real good about our chances,” Frank said. “We’re playing good baseball, but we made more errors than we have in the past today. We’re hitting and seeing the ball real well and playing well as a team now. Whether we’re playing Lewiston, Lake City or Coeur d’Alene, I think we can beat any of them. Part of me feels we should beat any of them. We’ve got three quality pitchers and a strong 1-9 lineup. I feel real comfortable with what we’re doing.”

Post Falls 000 302 1 — 6 7 7

Coeur d’Alene 030 352 x — 13 12 2

Ryan Hunt, Derek Baumgarner (5) and Matt Hammond; Mikey Schmidt, Logan Brastrup (7) and Levi Pereira. W — Schmidt (8-0). L — Hunt (2-3).

HITS: PF — Hammond, Reeder, Gomer 2, Wiltse 2, Baumgarner. Cd’A — Roletto, Nyquist, Pereira 3, S. Sutton, Robbins, O’Hagan, D. Sutton 2, Kluss, Duran. 2B — Baumgarner, Roletto, Pereira, S. Sutton, D. Sutton. HR — L. Pereira (9), D. Sutton (2), Duran (4), Nyquist (1).