STATE BASEBALL TOURNAMENTS: New coach, but same faces for T-Wolves

Paul Manzardo watched last year’s state 5A baseball tournament from the stands, as his oldest son, Kyle, was a freshman on last year’s Lake City High squad.

One year later, he’ll watch it from the third base coaching box, as the Timberwolves’ head coach.

Other than that, many of the players and assistant coaches are the same from last year’s team that made it to state for the first time since 2008.

“We just basically reloaded; not much changed,” said Manzardo, whose Lake City (16-8) club takes on Timberline (24-3) of Boise today at noon PDT in the first round of the state tournament at Memorial Stadium. “The big thing was to make sure we got everyone on the same page, and everyone believing in one another, and trusting one another. And again, I credit the seniors for that, because they bought in to what I was trying to do, and accepted me as if I was there all along. It was an unbelieveable experience this year.”

This year, Lake City won the 5A Region 1 title for the first time since 2007 — the only year the Timberwolves won the state title.

Manzardo, who was hired in November, saw the potential of his new team early — “just being in the facility, how they interacted with one another and how they believed in one another,” he said. “They were a very cohesive group ... it’s a unique group. It’s a special group.”

Manzardo has coached in the Lake City program before, helping out previous Timberwolf head coaches Darren Taylor and Al Bevacqua 6-7 years ago.

“But it was too difficult to do that and coach Little League, because I was coaching Little League at the same time,” said Manzardo, who in 2013 led a Coeur d’Alene Little League team to the semifinals of the Northwest Regional in San Bernardino, Calif. “This year, I’m coaching Little League, but I’m doing more of an assistant role with the Little League — that way I can still put in to do Coeur d’Alene All-Stars one more year, because (son) Marcus is a 12-year-old.”

Manzardo deflected credit for Lake City’s success to Travis Georgius, who coached the T-Wolves the past three seasons, and assistants Justin Garza, Mike Criswell, Jim Gray, C.J. Ketron and Bryant Sampson.

“Those guys are just as much of this as I am,” Manzardo said. “Those guys spent long hours in that hitting facility with those kids, working with them, and getting the fields ready … it was a group effort.”

Cody Garza is one of eight seniors on this year’s Lake City squad.

“Us seniors, we had coach Georgius all three years, and then getting a new coach the last year was a little different, but he (Manzardo) really helped us get through it,” said Garza, who pitched a no-hitter in the regional title game. “And he gave us seniors tons of control over the team, as far as leadership.”

Lake City went 1-2 at state last year, losing in the consolation title game and finishing sixth.

“Last year we were more focused on getting there, because we hadn’t been there in years,” Garza said. “And this year we’re really hoping to compete, now that we know what it’s like to be down there. We want to actually do something down there this year.”

Timberline is coached by former Coeur d’Alene High standout Larry Price, who has led the Wolves to 11 state titles (and another 10 with the Boise Gems American Legion team), who is stepping down after this season to watch his sons play.

4A

Lakeland (10-13) takes on Minico of Rupert today at 3 p.m. PDT at Skip Walker Field on the campus of the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls in its state 4A opener. Lakeland didn’t go to state last year, after making four trips to state in the five years before that.

3A

Bonners Ferry (22-2) opens the state 3A tournament at noon against South Fremont today at Fruitland High.

Defending champion Fruitland opens with Shelley.

2A

St. Maries has made a habit of making it to the semifinals of the state 2A tournament in recent years.

After a slow start to this season, it seemed out of the plans.

However, by way of winning seven of its last 10 games, the Lumberjacks (9-9) find themselves back at state for the fourth straight season.

“It’s kind of the goal every year to get back to state,” St. Maries coach Craig Tefft said. “At times this season, it didn’t seem attainable. The kids have really earned this one. They’ve worked hard and continue to get better and better rather than dwell on their mistakes. To get back to state is pretty darn gratifying to get with this team.”

St. Maries opens the tournament against Firth this afternoon at 12:45 at Orofino High.

Defending champion Nampa Christian opens the tournament against Wendell today at 9 a.m., with Orofino hosting Malad in the late game.