Piva comes through as Lakeland edges Jerome

NAMPA - Dylan Piva delivered a two-out, go-ahead RBI triple in the sixth inning to lift the Lakeland Hawks past the Jerome Tigers 4-3 in the opening round of the state 4A tournament on Thursday at Rodeo Park.

"It was a tough game all the way around," Lakeland coach Jason Bradbury said. "But I loved how my guys kept battling the entire game.

Jerome scored two in the first, but Dylan (who started the game on the mound) didn't get rattled. He didn't have his best stuff today, but I was impressed with his grit and composure. He just found the way to keep us in the game and kept making the adjustments."

Lakeland (15-7) will face Skyview (21-5) of Nampa in a semifinal game tonight at 6:15 p.m. PDT.

Skyview defeated Pocatello 4-0 in Thursday's late game.

Twin Falls will face Bishop Kelly (21-5) in the first semifinal game at 3:30 today.

Senior Kris Jackson struck out three in 1 2/3 innings of relief and Kenny Cooper had two hits and two RBIs for Lakeland.

"His fast ball was electric, and he had great movement, velocity and control," Bradbury said of Jackson. "It was a great day. We're a young team, so it was good to get this first win out of the way and all the cobwebs out. We started out pretty nervous, but once we worked some of that out, we started playing and competing much better. I'm hoping we can play like we're capable on Friday."

Jerome will face Pocatello (14-12) in a loser-out game today at noon.

Jerome 200 001 0 - 3 4 3

Lakeland 001 002 1 - 4 5 4

Dom Baker, Ethan Bragg (6) and Tanner Crawford; Dylan Piva, Kris Jackson (6) and Logan Bruner. W - Jackson. L - Bragg.

HITS: Jer - Bragg, Baker 2, Thomas. LL - Cooper 2, Piva 2, Bodak. 2B - Bodak. 3B - Baker, Piva.