BOISE - Baseball is a game of inches.

A few inches fair, it could be a win.

A few inches foul, it can cost you a shot at championship.

After rallying from a 8-2 deficit with a six-run bottom of the fifth inning, the Coeur d'Alene Vikings came up short in extra innings, losing 10-8 in eight innings to the Capital Eagles of Boise in the opening game of the state 5A baseball tournament on Thursday morning at Memorial Stadium.

"It's a tough pill to swallow," Coeur d'Alene coach Nick Rook said. "It was a good game and I'm proud of the kids for coming back."

Michael Hicks singled with one out in the seventh and courtesy runner Nathan English failed to advance after Devin Kluss grounded into a double play to end the inning for Coeur d'Alene. Just before that, Kluss nearly gave the team a walkoff single down the first-base line, but the ball was ruled foul.

"It just came down to one call late in the game," Rook said. "If he doesn't make the (foul) call, a couple of runs might have scored. Capital played well and so did we. We just could never get the lead."

Coeur d'Alene (20-5), which advanced to the title game last year, will face Highland High (22-3) of Pocatello today at 9 a.m. in a loser-out game.

"Ultimately, it's a battle of attrition," Rook said. "No matter how good you are, it's just going to be two teams battling and two teams that are expected to go deep in the tournament."

Trailing 8-2 heading to the bottom of the fifth, Coeur d'Alene rallied to tie the game with a six-run inning. Nick Nyquist delivered an RBI single to score Gibson Green to make it 8-3. Sean Sutton doubled to score English and Nyquist to make it an 8-5 game.

Kluss doubled to score Sutton and freshman Reggie Nault, who spent most of the year on the junior varsity, hit a two-run double to tie it at 8-all.

In the eighth, Conner Poulson singled leading off the inning for Capital and scored on an error to make it 9-8. Garret Pearson hit a sacrifice fly to score Nolan Jekich to make it 10-8 Capital.

Shawn Montee doubled leading off the bottom of the inning, but the Vikings were unable to score.

Brad Jekich and Nolan Jekich had two RBIs each for Capital (17-6), which faces Mountain View (17-10) of Meridian in the first semifinal today at 3 p.m. PDT.

Sutton homered leading off the second inning and finished with three RBIs for Coeur d'Alene.

"Hitting is contagious, it was for them and it was for us," Rook said. "We helped them out on some free passes and just had some weird stuff happen. We were a little snakebitten, but Capital played well. It just came down to a hit here and there."

Capital 130 130 02 - 10 14 0

Coeur d'Alene 010 160 00 - 8 12 1

Sam Wong, Branic Bailey (5), Colbi Paul (6) and Landon Peterson; Colby Kennedy, Elliott Sparks (2), Nick Nyquist (6) and Kolby DeHaas. W - Paul. L - Nyquist (0-1).

HITS: Cap - B. Jekich 2, Poulson 2, Wong 2, N. Jekich 3, Foley, Pearson 2, Cloninger, Hollow. Cd'A - Green 2, DeHaas, Nyquist, Sutton 2, Hicks 2, Kluss 2, Montee, Nault. 2B - Hollow, Pearson, Cloninger, Kluss 2, Sutton, Hicks, Montee, Nault. 3B - N. Jekich 2. HR - Sutton (5).

Snake River 7

Timberlake 1

FRUITLAND — The Tigers managed just three hits in losing to the defending champion Panthers of Blackfoot in the opening round of the state 3A tournament at Fruitland High.

Wyatt Volger went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored, and Kade Keller scored two runs for Snake River (14-8), which faces Kimberly in the first semifinal today at 3 p.m. PDT.

Austin Allen’s bases-loaded groundout in the fifth inning scored Jarrett Plunkett for Timberlake (15-9), which faces Homedale (13-12) in a loser-out game today at 9 a.m.

“We actually hit the ball really well,” Timberlake coach Bill Rider said. “It was just at everyone. And we had some bad errors at bad times. A few fly balls, if we hit it to a different spot, it’s a different game. We just couldn’t find the hole. They’re a good team and have a chance to get to the title game.”

Timberlake 000 010 0 — 1 3 3

Snake River 210 103 x — 7 9 0

Hunter Tonkin, Bryce Johnson (6) and Austin Allen; Kade Keller and Kade Harral. W — Keller. L — Tonkin.

HITS: TL — Johnson, Hansen, Galloway. SR — Volger 2, Harral 2, Miller, Albertson, Hrabik, Keller 2. 2B — Volger 2, Miller, Hrabik, Keller.

New Plymouth 3

St. Maries 0

OROFINO — The Lumberjacks struck out 15 times against Kyler Harris of the Pilgrims, who threw a complete-game three-hitter in the opening round of the state 2A tournament at Orofino High.

“He just dominated us and we couldn’t get anything going,” St. Maries coach Craig Tefft said. “We pitched and played well enough to win, but just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”

Isaac Walters had two hits for St. Maries (15-5), which had runners on second and third with one out in the sixth inning, but were unable to push a run across.

St. Maries will face Malad (19-3) in a loser-out game today at 10 a.m.

“We knew from scouting that our margin for error was small,” Tefft said. “We’re playing against another good opponent (Malad) tomorrow. We’ll try to get them so we can play on Saturday.”

New Plymouth (20-2) faces Nampa Christian (16-7) in a semifinal today.

New Plymouth 000 201 0 — 3 8 3

St. Maries 000 000 0 — 0 3 2

Kyler Harris and Tristan Brown; Dillon Michael and Chase Truscott. W — Harris. L — Michael (6-2).

HITS: NP — Powell, Harris, Brown 2, Schlett, Sobralski 2. SM — Walters 2, Macumber.