Trojans prove they belong in 5A neighborhood

Post Falls officially announced its presence in 5A baseball Tuesday.

Though there is still some work to do this season, the fourth-seeded Trojans knocked off No. 3 Coeur d’Alene 8-4 in the loser-out game of the 5A Region I tournament.

Senior ace Brandon Haas, who scattered eight hits in a complete game and also went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles, said the victory was huge for his team and his school.

“This was like a goal,” Haas said. “To come in as a 4A, and Coeur d’Alene was like ‘The Big Dog,’ and we realized we had to man-up and beat them.

“Today, everybody on this team just played their hearts out.”

Post Falls (9-17) advances to play top-seeded Lewiston (21-5) at 5 p.m. Thursday in Lewiston. The Bengals fell 9-2 to Lake City in the day’s regional championship game. Thursday’s Post Falls-Lewiston winner gets a Saturday date for a state play-in game against the District III fifth-place team, which is yet to be determined.

The Trojans got to Vikings starter Justin Jackson early, putting up a pair of runs on one hit in the first, when Haas doubled in Brett Winn and later scored on CdA shortstop Shea Vucinich’s throwing error.

Though they had just five hits through five innings, the Trojans manufactured single runs in the second and fifth innings to go up 4-0.

Coeur d’Alene, which had lost seven of eight coming in, finally came to life in the bottom of the fifth. Cody Spencer led off with a towering homer over the left-field fence and, after a rare batting-out-of-order out was charged against the Vikings, Jackson Seaman followed with a RBI single to cut Post Falls lead in half.

Post Falls answered with an RBI single from Winn in the top of the sixth that made it 5-2.

The Vikings used the long ball again in the sixth, when, with two outs, Spencer legged out an infield single and Vinny Lupinacci immediately followed with a homer to left, pulling CdA within a run at 5-4.

The Trojans sealed the game in the top of the seventh when a run-scoring double by Randy Hamilton and an RBI single by Brandon Brubaker keyed a three-run rally off Vucinich, who relieved Jackson in the sixth.

Post Falls coach Mick Zeller, whose team has had a habit of blowing leads this season, was happy – and relieved – when it was over.

“When they pulled close, I thought, ‘Oh, no, not again,’ ” Zeller said. “But we were confident, and we were ready to play.

“There’s been games where we haven’t been, but we were ready tonight.”

Coeur d’Alene coach Chris Stangel, whose team finishes his first season as coach at 16-10, tipped his cap to Haas and the Trojans and had a hard time finding anything negative to say about his Vikings.

“They’re all my sons,” said Stangel. “You invest so much together, and – boom – it’s over.

“But I’ll tell you again, I’m very proud of those boys.”