Glacier High School’s inaugural baseball has gone swimmingly, with a pair of regular-season wins over Missoula Big Sky keeping the Wolfpack in the upper half of the Western AA standings.

That led to a home play-in game with Missoula Hellgate, and when the Pack escaped with a 7-6 victory Friday – throwing the potential tying run out at the plate in the seventh inning – their tickets were punched for the State AA tournament. 

That begins Thursday at 3 Legends Stadium in Butte, where Glacier (13-6) plays Great Falls C.M. Russell (13-6) at 4 p.m. 

It will be the two teams’ second meeting. 

“We lost 8-5 and had a chance to win at the end,” Glacier coach Erik Brink said. “We gave up six unearned runs. We competedl but we didn’t play very well defensively. 

“I like our chances. I think our lineup matches up with theirs. They’re a really good team, but I’m fine with their lineup.” 

Class AA has split off from the rest of high school baseball for the first time, and eight of the 14 teams made State; that includes host Butte and Eastern AA champion Gallatin. 

Belgrade, which fell in last year’s state championship to Class A Billings Central, did not make the field. 

The Wolfpack did, and Brink credits team chemistry, a pitching staff led by Kyler Croft, the emergence of players like Kaeden Kahler (who at .570 is “just crushing the ball”) and a strong sophomore class. 

“Shoot, first playoff game I started five sophomores,” Brink said. “The coolest part of our season, beside it being the first one, is I have 18 guys spread from seniors to sophomores pretty evenly and they have meshed really well.  

“That means the culture is starting to grow, which makes a coach very happy.”