This particular road to the state tournament is a pretty familiar one for the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen.

Sure, it’s at a different level, but the field is the same, along with those same expectations.

Coeur d’Alene (31-15-1) opens the Class AA state tournament against the Boise Capitals (21-12-1) on Friday at Harris Field in Lewiston starting at 10 a.m.

Last season, the Lums’ class A team — with most of those players now on this year’s ‘AA’ team — went 3-2 and finished third at state in 2018, also at Harris Field in Lewiston.

“We did this last summer,” said first-year Coeur d’Alene AA coach Erik Karns, who coached the Single-A Lums last year. “It’s nice that it’s only two hours away and the boys can sleep in their own beds on some nights.

They do a good job of hosting the tournament down there. For our kids, it was the goal to make it to the state tournament this year and compete for the state title.”

Coeur d’Alene advanced to the ‘A’ semifinals last year, losing to eventual runner-up Rocky Mountain in eight innings. Burley won the state ‘A’ title last year.

Mountain View, winners of last year’s state AA tournament, failed to qualify this year. The championship game is scheduled for Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., with the champion advancing to the Northwest Regional tournament starting Aug. 7, also at Harris Field in Lewiston.

Coeur d’Alene bulked up its schedule this summer, competing in tournaments in Bozeman, Mont., the Boise Summer Classic, as well at the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Fourth of July Wood Bat Classic.

“We’ve played some very good competition all year,” Karns said. “We’ve gotten better throughout the season. We’ve come together really well and nicely as a team.”

Coeur d’Alene has won 7 of its last 10 games, advancing to state after beating Northern Lakes 13-1 in the Area A (district) championship game on Sunday at Thorco Field in Coeur d’Alene.

“We were a little tired coming into the tournament,” Karns said. “(Sunday’s Area A championship game) was our 47th game of the season in seven or eight weeks, so that’s a lot of baseball to play in that amount of time. When we got back from the Boise trip (July 11-13), you could tell our guys were tired. We gave them a couple of days off, let them get back into it. After that, our enthusiasm to play was better, our bats came back to us and our approaches at the plate were much better. We didn’t take things for granted and I was proud of how they responded at districts.”

In Boise, Coeur d’Alene lost 7-5 to the Boise Capitals — Friday’s opponent — and 3-1 to Rocky Mountain, a team they could meet on Saturday if either win or lose on Friday.

“We just know we’ve got to play our game to be successful,” Coeur d’Alene pitcher/utility player Alex Karns said. “We’ve learned to play as a family throughout the season. We’re looking forward to getting going at state this week.”

CLASS AA STATE TOURNAMENT

At Harris Field, Lewiston

Friday’s Games

Game 1 — Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen (31-15-1) vs. Boise Capitals (21-12-1), 10 a.m.

Game 3 — Rocky Mountain Avalanche (26-16) vs. Pocatello Runnin’ Rebels (31-17), 4 p.m.

Game 2 — East Idaho Rockies (19-25) vs. Nampa Chiefs (22-11), 1 p.m.

Game 4 — Idaho Falls Bandits (46-5-1) vs. Lewis-Clark Twins (22-19), 7:30

Saturday’s Games

Game 5 — Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 3, 10 a.m.

Game 6 — Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m.

Game 7 — Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 3, 4:30

Game 8 — Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 4, 7:30

Sunday’s Games

Game 9 — Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 10 a.m.

Game 10 — Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 1 p.m.

Game 11 — Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 7

Monday’s Games

Game 12 — Winner Game 9 vs. Loser Game 11, 4:30 p.m.

Game 13 — Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11, 7:30

Tuesday’s Games

Game 14 — Winner Game 12 vs. Winner Game 13, 1:30 p.m. (championship game)

Game 15 — Winner Game 14 vs. Loser Game 14, 4:30 (if-necessary game)