THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, May 19, 2016

Heading into this season, Lakeland High baseball coach Jason Bradbury knew two things about his team.

One, they would be young. Only four players returned from last year’s varsity, two of them starters in Ryan Pote and Jared McDaniel.

But while the Hawks didn’t have varsity experience, they did have baseball experience, as many of them having played together since T-ball.

Alas, there’s a difference between T-ball and 5A baseball, as well as between JV and varsity.

“I think the speed of the game, the level of competition, and the apt for mental toughness got to us a bit, because we struggled early on in just about every aspect of the game,” said Bradbury, in his 13th season as Lakeland coach.

THE HAWKS sported a 4-7 record heading into 4A Inland Empire League play. But 4A records in Idaho are often deceiving, as many teams play up against the bigger 5A schools. In this case five of Lakeland’s losses came to the three District 1 teams in the 5A IEL.

Still, Lakeland had been 10-runned in three of its last four games heading into league play.

However, Bradbury and his coaches knew full well pre-league records matter little — all that matters is league and regional tournament play.

But they also decided some pieces weren’t falling into place, so Bradbury and his coaches made what he termed “drastic defensive” changes.

They moved Pote from center field to shortstop, Jared McDaniel from catcher to second base, Andrew Neilson from second base to outfield, Dylan Bradbury from third base to catcher, and brought in Joe Strietzel to be the everyday third baseman.

“These changes might not have been the most popular with both the players and their families, but we had to do something to combat the way we had been playing up to that point,” Bradbury said.

BRADBURY WAS thrilled with the response.

Chris Schilling pitched the Hawks to a 2-1 victory over Moscow in the first game of their 4A IEL-opening doubleheader, and Lakeland played error-free ball behind him.

“We ended up losing the second game, but nevertheless, you could see the life and confidence starting to build in my players,” Bradbury said. “They knew they could compete now and started trusting each other. It was a lot of fun to watch.”

Lakeland went on to win the league title with a 5-3 record, earning a bye to the regional championship game. There, with just one game to win to get to state, Schilling beat Sandpoint 2-0 in the regional title game.

“Our offense as a team struggled early on, but with guys like Ryan Pote, Jared McDaniel, and Dylan Bradbury consistently hitting well, we knew other guys would were bound to follow suit,” Bradbury said. “Andrew Neilson and Max Baker both came on huge and started crushing the ball toward the end of the season. Plus, those two have a ton of speed and are big weapons on the basepaths. It seems like whenever they get on base, we score. Tyler Blood also worked very hard at getting his swing more consistent, and proved to be very stable for us down in the lineup.”

So all’s well that ends well, and Lakeland’s back at state for the fifth time in seven years. These modified single-elimination state baseball tourneys are always a crapshoot, and as Bradbury says, “Why not us?”

“I was very happy with my team and coaches for working so hard, especially when the going got tough, never giving up, and then winning the league and district championship in the fashion they did,” said Bradbury, who is guiding his seventh Lakeland team to state. “They really turned it around.”

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