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PREP BASEBALL: Coeur d'Alene, Kellogg fall in extra innings in state play-in games

| May 15, 2022 1:15 AM

LEWISTON — Coeur d’Alene had every chance it could find to win Saturday’s state 5A baseball play-in game it could have wanted.

But those extra chances the Vikings gave back to the Borah Lions is what will send the Boise school forward.

Borah, helped by four errors by Coeur d’Alene, defeated the Vikings 4-3 in eight innings at Church Field, advancing to state starting Thursday at Wolfe Field on the campus of the College of Idaho in Caldwell.

“We didn’t capitalize on some scoring chances early in the game,” Coeur d’Alene coach Erik Karns said. “It just came down to making the play in the big moments. By not capitalizing, we let them stick around and made some mistakes. They made us play defense, and those errors were critical for us not being able to close the deal tonight.”

Kyle Bridge, who was hit by a pitch leading off the game, scored on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Karns to give Coeur d’Alene a 1-0 lead. Coeur d’Alene extended its lead to 2-0 in the fourth inning on a fielder's choice to score Cooper Erickson. Cooper Larson scored after Nolan Christ was hit by a pitch later in the inning, giving Coeur d’Alene a 3-0 lead.

Borah fought back to tie the game in the seventh inning, then won the game on a hit by pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning.

Cooper Erickson struck out five over five innings, Bryce Stockton allowed one hit in 1 ⅓ innings of relief before turning it over to Andrew Karns, who struck out two in the eighth with the bases loaded.

“Cooper had a great start and gave us more innings than we thought he would,” Erik Karns said. “Bryce did a great job, but we just didn’t make plays defensively behind him. Andrew came in and did a great job and battled.”

Coeur d’Alene finishes 19-8. The Vikings will graduate seven seniors — James Guyer, Owen Benson, Evan Mallory, Cooper Larson, Alexander Walker, Lucas Erickson and Ryan Schneider off this year’s team.

“It’s a disappointing finish, but doesn’t take away from the successes we’ve had,” Erik Karns said. “You can’t take anything away from what those seven seniors have meant to this program. It’s always bittersweet to have a senior class finish on that type of game.”

Coeur d’Alene 100 200 00 — 3 4 4

Borah 000 011 11 — 4 4 1

Two out when the winning run scored.

Cooper Erickson, Bryce Stockton (6), Andrew Karns (7) and Lucas Erickson; Gardner, Rodgers (4), Knoll (8) and Kubena, Kernin (6).

HITS: Cd’A — Schneider, Karns, C. Erickson, Larson. Borah — Gardner, Anderson, Rogers, Detwiler. 2B — Karns, Gardner, Rogers.

Homedale 5

Kellogg 2, 9 inn.

LEWISTON — The Wildcats, the third seed in the District 1 tournament, saw their season come to an end to the Trojans in a state 3A play-in game at Church Field.

Kellogg finishes 12-10.

Homedale (17-10) opens at state against Kimberly (20-4) at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa on Thursday.