6A BASEBALL STATE PLAY-IN SERIES: Coeur d’Alene survives — Vikings outlast Lake City, advance to 6A State Championship Series

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

COEUR d’ALENE — Needing only one win on Saturday to advance, the Coeur d’Alene Vikings’ stay at this newfangled thing called the 6A Play-in Series North qualifier was extended one more game by a 10-1 loss to the Lake City Timberwolves in their first game. 

No problem for the Vikings. 

In the winner-take-all title game that followed, Coeur d’Alene broke a 4-all tie with two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth inning — all the damage coming after two were out — and held off Lake City 6-5 on Lake City High’s home field to advance. 

The fourth-seeded Vikings (18-5) advance to the four-team, double-elimination State Championship Series set for Thursday through Saturday at Memorial Stadium in the Boise suburb of Garden City.

“That first game, so what, we lost, let’s just take it to them the next game,” said junior infielder Gavin Helms, who went 3 for 4 with a solo homer, two RBIs and two runs scored in the deciding game. “That’s just how we roll. When we get down, we fight, and climb back up.” 

After losing in the first game Friday, seventh-seeded Lake City wound up playing three games on Saturday, beating ninth-seeded Highland of Pocatello 11-3 in a loser-out game, then defeating Coeur d’Alene to force the if-necessary championship game. 

And the T-Wolves (15-10) nearly pulled off the remarkable — three wins in one day. 

"Super proud of the boys,” third-year Lake City coach Mike Criswell said. "I’m frustrated with the format, of course, but I couldn’t be happier for them. Three games in one day is asking a lot, and you could tell — we ran out of gas for arms. We just didn’t have anybody else to throw.” 

Highland, which beat Lake City on Friday and nearly defeated Coeur d’Alene in the next game that day, until the Vikings won 3-2 with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, finished 19-11. 

Coeur d’Alene, the No. 3 seed in the four-team championship series, will play No. 2 Middleton on Thursday at 3 p.m. PDT. No. 1 Owyhee will play No. 4 Mountain View at 6. 

Coeur d’Alene 6, Lake City 5: First-year Coeur d’Alene head coach Brandon Williams had a plan for a starting pitcher in the winner-take-all game. But when that plan fell through, he gathered his players in the dugout between games. 

“I looked at the whole dugout and said, ‘Who wants the baseball?’” Williams said. 

“Bam looked up at me and said, ‘I want the ball.’” 

Fenter, a junior, had pitched just 7.1 innings all year, due to a partially torn patella tendon in his left knee suffered early in the season. In Coeur d’Alene’s biggest game of the year to date, Fenter gave the Vikings 5.2 innings, allowing three hits and four runs, and left with his team up 6-4. 

Lake City scored twice in the first, on a double-play grounder with the bases loaded, and on senior Jack Pierce’s delayed steal of home. 

Helms doubled and junior Blake Foulk tripled in the bottom half to get one of those runs back for the Vikings. 

Senior Mark Holecek hit the first of his two homers for Lake City in the third.  

Helms answered with a homer in the bottom half.  

In the fourth, Viking senior Kolbe Coey tied the game with an RBI single, then scored on Helms’ single to put Cd’A up 4-3. 

Holecek’s second dinger tied it in the top of the fifth. 

In the bottom half with two out, Hunter Chambers reached on a Lake City error, and ended up on second with the throw to first went out of play.  

Senior Tyler Voorhees singled to left to score junior courtesy runner Beckett Larson, then sophomore Jackson Hackett singled to center to score Voorhees. 

Coey came on from center field in relief of Fenter in the sixth, with two out and runners at first and second. 

He gave up an infield single to load the bases, then struck out the next batter looking to get out of the jam.  

“My plan was, I was going to use Coey for the sixth and Harrison (Trunkey-Evans) for the seventh,” Williams said. “But he (Coey) looked straight at me after he got that strikeout and said, ‘Don’t even think about it, Dub.’ And I’m going to trust my seniors.” 

In the seventh with one out, Lake City senior Travis Usdrowski reached on an infield single, and moved up to second on a throwing error on the play. 

Senior Avrey Cherry singled up the middle to score Usdrowski to pull the T-Wolves within a run.  

The next batter hit a grounder up the middle, but Coeur d’Alene shortstop Harrison Trunkey-Evans ranged over, picked the ball, stepped on second and threw to first for the game-ending double play. 

“We got punched in the mouth that first game, and we flushed it,” Williams said. “We got down in the next game, and we kept fighting.” 

Of Coeur d’Alene’s last 10 games, nine have been against Lake City. The Vikings won five of the nine against the Timberwolves, who beat Coeur d’Alene last week for the district title and the right to host this weekend’s play-in series. 

“Much more of a grind this year,” said Helms, whose team also played at state last year. “They way they changed the whole system just made it harder; we had to play more games. Playing these guys nine times and beating them five out of nine times was no easy thing to do.” 

Lake City    201    010    0    —    5    6    2 

Coeur d’Alene     101    220    x    —    6    8    2 

Maverick Lanigan, Mark Holecek (3), Aven Adams (5), Owen Moore (5) and Tanner Franklin; Bam Fenter, Kolbe Coey (6) and Hunter Chambers. 

HITS: LC — Holecek 3, Usdrowski, Cherry, Mangini. Cd’A — Coey 2, Helms 3, Foulk, Voorhees, Hackett. 2B — Helms, Coey. 3B — Foulk. HR — Holecek 2, Helms. 

Lake City 10, Coeur d’Alene 1: Usdrowski hit a grand slam in the first inning and Cherry hit a two-run bomb in the fifth for the Timberwolves. 

Senior Kyle Johnson pitched a complete game for Lake City, striking out five and scattering four hits. 

Helms homered in the seventh for Coeur d’Alene.  

Lake City    004    021    3    —    10    6    0 

Coeur d’Alene    000    000    1    —    1    4    1 

Kyle Johnson and Tanner Franklin; Tyler Voorhees, Tucker Ackerman (5), Kai Wheeler (6), JD Davenport (7) and Hunter Chambers. 

HITS: LC — Johnson, Usdrowski, Cherry 2, Mangini, Franklin. Cd’A — Fenter, Helms, Coey, Foulk. 2B — Mangini, Fenter. HR — Usdrowski, Cherry, Helms. 

Lake City 11, Highland 3: Usdrowski hit a three-run home run in the top of the first inning, and the Timberwolves built a 9-1 lead after four innings in the loser-out game against the Rams. 

In the third, senior Tanner Franklin hit an RBI single for Lake City, and sophomore Kasen Noffke followed with a two-run triple. 

Holecek finished 2 for 4 with an RBI and three runs scored for the T-Wolves. Johnson was 2 for 4 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs. 

Cherry scattered five hits in the complete-game win for Lake City. Highland was one out away on Friday from advancing to today’s championship game. 

Lake City    314    101    1    —    11    14    3 

Highland    100    011    0    —    3    5    2 

Avrey Cherry and Tanner Franklin; Porter Burrows, Karson Farmer (3), J. Beltran (5) and Cannon Eddie. 

HITS: LC — Holecek 2, Pierce 2, Johnson 2, Usdrowski, Cherry 2, Mangini 2, Adams, Franklin, Noffke. High — Glenn 2, Payne, Flotz, Scott. 2B — Holecek 2, Adams, Mangini 2, Cherry, Johnson, Foltz. 3B — Noffke. HR — Usdrowski. 

    MARK NELKE/Press Tyler Voorhees of Coeur d'Alene slides home safely as Lake City catcher Tanner Franklin waits for the throw Saturday during the final game of the 6A baseball state play-in series at Lake City High.

    MARK NELKE/Press Jack Pierce of Lake City slides in with a steal of home as Coeur d'Alene catcher Hunter Chambers looks on Saturday during the finale of the 6A baseball state play-in series at Lake City.

    MARK NELKE/Press Mark Holecek of Lake City celebrates after hitting his second homer of the game, in the fifth inning of the finale with Coeur d'Alene in the 6A baseball state play-in series Saturday at Lake City High.