How can you tell that the Coeur d’Alene “AA” Lumbermen are hungry to get the season going?

When coach Erik Karns arrived at a Wednesday practice, they already had 10 players hitting ground balls to each other with an hour before it was time to start.

“It’s a strong nucleus and great group of kids,” said Karns, who coached the program’s Single-A squad last year. “We’ve got high expectations on and off the field. I’m excited to see what they’re going to be able to do.”

Coeur d’Alene opens the season on Friday with a doubleheader against the Spokane Cannons starting at 5 p.m. at Thorco Field. The program will hold opening day ceremonies, where all four of the program’s teams will be introduced.

“We’ve reset the program,” Karns said. “We’ve got four full rosters, an A and AA program and excited about the teams being able to compete for a state title this coming summer.”

Last year, Coeur d’Alene did not compete in the AA tournament, folding the program before the Area A (District) tournament, leaving only Prairie and Lewis-Clark as the lone teams in the league. This year, Northern Lakes has moved up to AA after playing as a Single-A program last year.

“I think a lot of the kids are excited about playing with their friends and locally,” Karns said. “A lot of them have been traveling each weekend, and it’s exhausting. We really, really focused on keeping that Single-A group together last year and getting that Double-A team some experience.

The Lumbermen draw from players from Coeur d’Alene and Lake City High.

Karns added that Zach Mackimmie (Coeur d’Alene High), Brandon Gay (2018 Lake City High graduate), David Kraak (Lake City) and Dylan Brum (Lake City) are among players with valuable experience.

“We’ll have a really solid group with some added pieces,” Karns said. “I think we’ll be competitive. If you look at the 5A Region 1 loser-out game, half the guys that were in that game are on this team, and played a lot of tough competition last year.”

Coeur d’Alene will also compete in tournaments in Montana — including this weekend’s Maverick Memorial tournament in Missoula — as well as a tournament in Bozeman.

“We want these kids to have a great experience and build relationships that will last a lifetime,” Karns said. “They’ve played together for a long time. We’re going to do a camping trip in Bozeman and do some white-water rafting and go to Boise to see some teams that could be state powers from Mountain View (Meridian) and Capital (Boise). I’m really excited about the level of competition that we’re going to be playing.”

The Area A District AA tournament is July 19-21 at Thorco Field, with state at Harris Field in Lewiston July 26-30. Lewis-Clark, as the state host, gets an automatic bid to state, with the next-highest finisher at districts also advancing to state.

“Northern Lakes was really good and have some great players,” Karns said. “And Prairie is going to be tough again. Each game in league is going to be a challenge.”