THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, May, 7, 2015

For a while on Monday, the possibility was shaping up that No. 4 seed Post Falls could upset No. 1 Lewiston in the first round of the 5A Region 1 baseball tournament, meaning if Lake City could have held on at Coeur d'Alene on Monday, the Timberwolves would have hosted Tuesday's regional title game - as the No. 3 seed.

That's how balanced the 5A Inland Empire League was in baseball this season.

As it turned out, Lewiston scored in the bottom of the seventh inning to edge Post Falls, and Coeur d'Alene rallied with five runs in the bottom of the sixth to trip up Lake City 7-6.

"It's great; obviously all four teams can beat all four teams," Coeur d'Alene coach Nick Rook said. "It makes us all better; it's good for everybody. You never want to lose a game, but we love playing good teams. I think everybody's getting better. There's better pitching overall in the league."

On Tuesday, No. 2 seed Coeur d'Alene won at Lewiston for an apparent fifth straight regional title, and Lake City eliminated Post Falls. But after Coeur d'Alene had to forfeit to Lewiston for using a pitcher in too many innings in consecutive days, Lewiston advances to state, and Coeur d'Alene plays host to Lake City today in a loser-out game.

COEUR d'ALENE and Lewiston have ruled 5A IEL baseball in recent years. But this year, Lake City split with Coeur d'Alene in their four league games, and a win over their city rivals in the league finale would have given the T-Wolves the No. 2 seed and the Vikings the No. 3 seed.

Lake City dropped all four to Lewiston in league play, one by one run, but two by 10 runs.

"Districts were going to be interesting, no matter who we were playing," Lake City coach Travis Georgius said. "Everyone's got a couple of pitchers, and everybody can, for the most part, hit the ball.

"Post Falls, we thought by no means was going to be the 0-12 4 seed. They've got a couple of guys that can throw it, and they have the potential to hit the ball a little bit."

AH, POST Falls.

The Trojans, indeed, went 0-12 in league play. But three of their five losses to Lewiston were by one run - all three of them at Lewiston. They also had one one-run loss to Coeur d'Alene and twice lost to Lake City by one run - including Tuesday's loser-out game.

"Every team we played, we could beat them - we had one-run games against every team we played," Post Falls coach Dustin Frank said. "I don't think our league record reflected our competitiveness. We've got to find a way to make them one or two runs better."

Frank noted that all four teams in the league played solid defense, had good hitting even at the bottom of the lineup, and quality pitching.

"It was nice because every game you had to play hard and you had to play it right," Frank said. "All we ask our kids is to play hard, and they did that."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.