When Travis Georgius took over as Lake City baseball coach in 2013, the Timberwolves had had some success in the past - just not the recent past.

In this, his third season as coach, Georgius has guided Lake City back to state for the first time since 2008.

Before this season, the T-Wolves had just one winning season since then - in 2010.

"One of my goals when I took over a couple of years ago was to change the mentality," Georgius said. "We're getting kids that are not expecting to lose anymore. It's nice to see."

Lake City (18-10), the Region 1 runner-up takes on defending state champion Capital (16-12) of Boise, the second-place team from District 3, today at 9 a.m. PDT at Memorial Stadium in Boise in the first round of the state 5A tournament.

That attitude adjustment was evident last week, when Lake City trailed Coeur d'Alene by one run heading into the final inning of a loser-out game at regionals.

The visiting Timberwolves came up with a six-run rally in the top of the seventh, and went on to eliminate the Vikings with a 10-5 victory.

"That's been a big difference, we've taken advantage of our opportunities," Georgius said. "It's gotten us some wins early this year, and I think its gotten us a couple of late."

Georgius said the whole scenario of last week - Lake City was preparing to travel to Lewiston for a loser-out game, but instead played Coeur d'Alene after the Vikings had to forfeit their regional title game win over Lewiston for using a pitcher in too many innings on consecutive days - "was interesting to say the least."

But the T-Wolves were able to win at Cd'A, then beat Vallivue of Caldwell in a state play-in game at Lewiston.

"They're definitely ready and hungry to put on a good showing at state," Georgius said.

A couple of sparkplugs on his team, Georgius said, is senior leadoff hitter/pitcher/shortstop Jordan Ross and senior Parker Gabrielson.

"It took us a while to figure out what kind of team we are," Georgius said. "We've kind of accepted that we're undersized, and we've got to allow ourselves to stay in games; we're not going to roll over."

Notes: Lake City will play either Highland (20-8) of Pocatello or Timberline (23-4) of Boise on Friday ... Rocky Mountain (27-0) of Meridian in on the other side of the bracket, as is Lewiston (21-5).

Lakeland, the state runner-up last year, didn't make it back despite winning the 4A Inland Empire League this year. The Hawks lost twice to Moscow, the No. 3 seed, at regionals. ... Defending champion Twin Falls is back in this year's tourney.

Timberlake: After winning six straight to begin the season, the Timberlake Tigers then when through a five-game losing streak, before winning three straight to finish 14-9 and advance to state for the fourth straight year.

"We've started to play more consistently again in the last three games," nine-year Timberlake coach Bill Rider said.

Timberlake opens the state 3A tournament at 3 p.m. PDT today against Snake River (16-5) at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore.

"Snake (River) is a great program," said Rider, whose team lost in the consolation championship game last season. "They will be able to hit. Fruitland, they are good every year. Filer has been good in the past - they haven't been there for a while - but you don't win a district title by accident."

Timberlake finished fourth at state in 2013.

"We will need to pitch well," Rider said, "as well as we have in the last four games. We need to find a way to come up with some clutch hitting and minimize mistakes. And we'll need some luck. Every coach knows having the ball bounce the right way for your team can be the difference in a tournament game."

Defending champion Fruitland opens the state tournament against Filer in the late game today at 6. Bonners Ferry, at state for the first time since 2011, opens the tourney vs. Marsh Valley at 9 a.m.

St. Maries: The Lumberjacks advanced to a fourth straight state tournament, the third since dropping down to 2A.

"We've had a good year this year offensively," seventh-year St. Maries coach Craig Tefft said. "We just need to keep having quality at-bats. We've also played pretty well defensively."

St. Maries (14-10) opens the state 2A tournament today at 9 a.m. PDT at Rodeo Park in Nampa against Melba (14-10).

Defending state champion Orofino, the District 1-2 runner-up, opens against Wendell today at noon.

Four of the Lumberjacks' five losses have came against 5A junior varsity teams and 4A varsities.

"We have a good group of mature kids who know that the season is full of many highs and lows," Tefft said. "They do a good job of keeping the team focused on playing the game one pitch at a time."

St. Maries beat Melba in the opening round 8-6 in 2013.

"Baseball is tough to scout compared to other sports," Tefft said. "We really don't have film to watch. We know traditionally that District 3 (Boise area) is tough and know we will have to play very well to win games. We need our starting pitchers to give us lots of innings. If we can get 5 to 6 innings out of our starters, we will have a chance to play in a game on Saturday."