THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, May 26, 2016

In the hitting facility at Lake City High hangs a photo of the Timberwolves’ 2007 state championship baseball team.

Looks like it’s time to make room for another photo.

“At the beginning of the year we were like, ‘We need another one of these in here,’” Lake City senior center fielder Tanner Criswell said. “We need to leave our mark on Lake City, and we did.”

They certainly did, even if few on the outside saw it coming.

Since Lake City won its only state baseball title in ‘07, the Timberwolf program had dipped a bit. Coeur d’Alene emerged as the team to beat in the 5A Inland Empire League, along with Lewiston, which has been among the league favorites since, well, forever.

But Lake City made steady improvement the past three seasons under coach Travis Georgius, then took the next step this season under first-year head coach Paul Manzardo.

The T-Wolves got three complete-game victories and allowed just three runs in its three state tourney wins last weekend, capped by a 4-1 triumph over Meridian on Saturday in the state title game.

“That feels real good,” Lake City senior first baseman Dominic Conigliaro said of being part of the revival of baseball at his school. “Our freshman team went 3-13, I think. Getting a little bit better and better, and finally being able to dogpile at state, is really a good feeling.”

LAKE CITY showed signs of a breakthrough last season, eliminating Coeur d’Alene at regionals and eventually qualifying for state for the first time since 2008. The T-Wolves went 1-2 at state, finishing sixth, dropping the consolation final to Meridian. Lake City finished 19-12 last year, but had to replace five seniors who have gone on to play in college this year.

Few on the outside saw this season coming from the T-Wolves.

“They didn’t think we had enough in us,” Criswell said. “Enough pitching, enough hitting, to get down here (to state) and do work. But I guess we showed them differently.”

On the inside, however, there was a quiet confidence, plus a core of seniors (eight in all) providing leadership. There was no “star,” per se, so “it was going to be everybody pulling together to win a ballgame,” said Criswell, who plans to attend Boise State next year and study nursing.

“Last year at the end of the season we were like, ‘Wow, we’re losing a lot of talent … what’s next year going to be like?’” said Conigliaro, who plans to play at Lewis and Clark College in Portland next year. “But me and (senior) Jarred (Hall) looked at each other at the start of the season and said, “We can win this.’ And sure enough, we did. I think we were doubted a little bit on the outside, but internally, we knew we were a good team.”

LAKE CITY slipped into the No. 2 seed for regionals, then got to host the regional title game when No. 1 Lewiston was upended by No. 4 Post Falls. The T-Wolves took advantage by 10-running the Trojans for a trip to state.

Aside from the clutch pitching and early offense, another image from state was T-Wolf outfielders — Criswell in center, freshman Bennett Cunningham in left and senior Kaleb Reid in right — making one leaping catch after another.

“Definitely credit to our outfield … they weren’t letting anything drop out there,” said Conigliaro, a pitcher/first baseman. “Tanner, Bennett and Kaleb were just locked down the whole time.”

“That’s the way Reggie played,” Criswell said, referring to Reggie Nault, former Coeur d’Alene High standout and teammate of Criswell’s in American Legion ball, who drowned last summer in a boating accident. “I want to play like that for the rest of my career. He was on my mind all day.”

LAKE CITY played in back-to-back state title games in 2007 and ‘08. Cory Bridges, who started the program in 1995, and whose son was a senior on that ‘08 team, resigned following that season after 14 years as coach.

Manzardo is the program’s fourth head coach since then. He continued what Georgius and his staff started.

“I credit all of it to my coaching staff, and the players,” he said. “I have a great coaching staff, and great players.”

“I think Paul did a good job of coming in and keeping the momentum going,” Conigliaro said. “He left it up to the seniors to decide what type of team we wanted to be … I think that really worked.”

Most of his assistant coaches were holdovers from the previous staff, and this team had several ties to the ‘07 squad. CJ Ketron, a pitcher on that team, is one of the T-Wolf assistants. Kyle Johnson, an outfielder in the Mets’ organization, helps out when he can, as do the Combo twins, Nick and Chris. Zach Clanton, a pitcher on that squad, is head coach of the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen class AA American Legion team.

As it turned out, last Saturday Lake City occupied the same third-base dugout at Memorial Stadium it used in 2007, when it beat Lewiston in the state title game.

And when the last out was recorded against Meridian, on a play at the plate, on a rain slickened field, the T-Wolves celebrated with a dogpile in front of home plate.

“That dogpile felt so good,” Conigliaro said. “That’s been four years coming, just waiting for that moment.”

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.