STATE HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PREVIEW: Playing with pace could be key for Lake City run

5A

It might be the first time at state since 2016 for the Lake City Timberwolves, but they received a pretty good indication of what to expect in the first two weeks of the season.

The Timberwolves went 1-3 in the Rocky Mountain Invitational March 24-25, outlasting Mountain View of Meridian 5-4 in 10 innings for their lone win in the stretch.

Since then, this pack of ‘Wolves has grown up, winning 11 straight and 14 of their final 16, culminating with a 6-2 win in the 5A Region 1 championship game on May 10.

“I think everyone just stayed calm and made plays when they needed to make plays,” first-year Lake City coach Mike Criswell said. “We’re not the type of team that’s going to start chirping at each other. We’re always behind each other.”

Lake City (19-6) will be the sixth seed when it opens at state today against third-seeded Eagle (16-8) at College of Idaho’s Wolfe Field in Caldwell starting at 11:30 p.m. PDT. Middleton (23-4) faces Timberline (17-9) in the opening game at state.

Eagle beat the Timberwolves 6-0 earlier this year at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian. Lewiston (16-12), which upset Coeur d’Alene in the regional second-place game, beat Rocky Mountain in the state play-in game last Saturday. The Bengals open with top-seeded and defending champion Owyhee (20-4) in today’s final game. Mountain View (15-11) faces Highland (17-10) at 3 p.m. is the other opening round game.

Criswell added that the speed of the game wasn’t something that Lake City, at that point, was accustomed to seeing.

“They play a real fast game in the Boise area,” Criswell said. “I’ve been looking at all the stats of those teams down there. And our team stacks up so well across the board against them. Hitting, fielding and all that stuff. Defensively, we’re really tough.”

Lake City carries a .917 fielding percentage into the state tournament.

“If we stick to our pace and don’t play someone else’s game, which is something we’ll have to remember, we’ll be fine,” Criswell said. “We’ve seen it before (in March) and kind of got out of our own pace a little bit. They all know what they need to do. Our guys know how to play baseball.”

3A

Timberlake’s 12-12 record isn’t likely to scare anybody, but it was achieved by design.

The Tigers played each of the area 4A schools once.

They played four games in an early season tournament at Fruitland, trading snow for grass.

“Our schedule was tough, but I wanted us to be battle-tested,” second-year Timberlake coach Bryce Johnson said.

That paid off in the postseason. Despite losing four of five games to Bonners Ferry during Intermountain League play, the Tigers beat the Badgers 2-1 in a best-of-3 series for the district title, and the district’s lone berth to state.

“I wanted us to be comfortable in close games, and I can't say enough about them, keeping the faith,” Johnson said of his team. “We kept preaching, ‘You are better than record shows, and by the end of year, it’s going to pay off.’”

Timberlake, the No. 7 seed, faces No. 2 Kimberly (18-4) today at 10 a.m. PDT in the first round of the state tournament at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa.

In addition to a scrappy lineup, Johnson is high on his three-man starting pitching rotation of Caden Robinett, Kenny Wells and Grant Allaway. Developing three solid starters was by design, he said.

“I took that from Bill Rider (who coached Timberlake for 11 seasons),” Johnson said. “He said you need three starters, because by the third day, it's what do you have for pitching?”

Timberlake is at state for the first time since 2019.

2A

Kellogg (11-15), at state for the first time since 1991, opens against Malad (12-8), the District Five champion in tonight’s late game at Orofino High.

The Wildcats, who dropped from the 3A classification to 2A this season, advanced to a play-in game last season before falling to Homedale in extra innings.

Nampa Christian (18-6), the runner-up in District 3, opens its title defense against Firth (20-3) today at 9:30 a.m.

4A

Moscow (9-17) advanced to state after sweeping the best-of-3 4A Region 1 championship series and will open against top-seeded Skyview (21-5) of Nampa tonight at College of Southern Idaho's Skip Walker Field in Twin Falls.

Defending champion Bishop Kelly (17-7) of Boise is the sixth seed and will face third-seeded Twin Falls (20-6) in its opener.