Lakeland baseball to state

MOSCOW - The goal was simple for the Lakeland Hawks on Friday - be aggressive early.

From a double by Troy Carr on the first pitch of the game, the Hawks did just that to defeat the Moscow Bears 11-2 in the 4A Region 1 baseball championship game at Bear Field, advancing to the state 4A tournament beginning Thursday at Bishop Kelly High in Boise.

"I was really proud of the way my guys came out today," Lakeland coach Jason Bradbury said. "We had to travel all day yesterday and today and we got it done when we needed to."

Eric Cooper opened the scoring with a two-run single in the first inning for Lakeland (13-12), which will open state against an opponent to be determined today at 3 p.m. PDT.

Cody Vandever hit a two-run double in a five-run fourth inning and struck out four for Lakeland.

Lakeland 212 501 0 - 11 11 1

Moscow 101 000 0 - 2 5 3

Cody Vandever and Luke Howell; Helbling, Morgan (5), Payne (6) and Papineau. W - Vandever (7-2). L - Helbling.

HITS: LL - Carr 2, Cooper, Burnett, Vandever 2, Whitesitt 2, Long 2, Howell 2. Mos - Helbling 2, Papineau, Snyder, Morgan. 2B - Helbling, Papineau, Snyder, Carr, Vandever.