POCATELLO — A step below the pinnacle of Pocatello Legion baseball, the Single-A Pocatello Razorbacks might be one of the hottest teams in the state.

If they sweep Buhl on Thursday at Halliwell Park — the Razorbacks won the first game 13-3 and led the second 12-3 in the bottom of the fourth as of press time — they’ll be 29-6 and on a six-game winning streak that’s not even close to their longest of the year.

The Razorbacks had an 11-gamer in late June that coincided with their winning the Pocatello Wood Bat Classic tournament.

The players on the Razorbacks roster are talented, but they’re also driven by the unique set of pressures that comes from the team’s place on the Pocatello Legion pyramid. The Razorbacks are traditionally the best and most experienced Single-A team in the organization, just below the Double-A flagship of the Pocatello Runnin’ Rebels.

“All these kids have been in the program,” Razorbacks coach Duane Rawlings said. “We’re the more senior Single-A team, so the expectations for the Razorbacks to win are there year in and year out. We come in with high expectations, and they’re doing pretty well on meeting those.”

That puts a target on the back of the team, particularly this year, when they’re playing all local teams, who already know what they’re about.

“We’re the Razorbacks, we’ve got more talent,” outfielder Scott Baker, a rising senior at Highland, said. “It is definitely a lot of pressure, because other teams, they throw their best at us, and there’s definitely bragging rights when they beat us.”

But if that status — above all the other Single-A teams in the area — adds one unique pressure, being just below the Runnin’ Rebels adds a second, more individualized one.

By the time kids are talented enough to play for the Razorbacks, there’s only one more step up they can take in their Legion career — the most competitive, prestigious jump in the whole program.

“The goal of getting into the program, ultimately, is to become a Runnin’ Rebel,” Rawlings said. “Our goal is to prepare the kids to play Double-A for the Runnin’ Rebels hopefully next year or the year after. They’ve been working towards that point, so when every kid gets to the Razorbacks, they understand that expectation.”

That means that, while they’re working as a team, Razorbacks players also have to be focused on their own development. Making the jump to the Runnin’ Rebels isn’t given, it’s earned — only two Razorbacks from last year’s team are on the Double-A team’s roster this year.

“It’s a thing we all strive for, so I think we just all go out and play our hardest,” shortstop Jett Anderson, a rising senior at Century, said. “Every one of us wants to be on that Double-A team, which makes us so good because we’re all going our hardest.”

Rawlings has to be focused on development as well. Just by making it to the Razorbacks, his kids have already proven that they’re talented and focused, and he has to manage 15 competitive athletes to find playing time for everybody.

“They’re the kids that expect to be playing every game, they’re the kids that want the ball in their hands on the mound,” Rawlings said. “They want to be leadoff, they want to be the top of the lineup, they want to be playing every inning of every game. When you have 15 talented kids — it’s a good problem to have as a coach, but it’s a problem nonetheless — you have to try to work and get everybody their innings and keep everybody happy.”

It’s not something that causes chemistry issues — the team’s record is proof of that — but it is just another of the unique expectations driving the Razorbacks towards, they hope, the state tournament.

They’re competing with Marsh Valley, Malad and Pocatello’s other Single-A team, the Rebels, in a four-teams-for-three-spots race to make it to state, which starts July 27.

“They’re just a talented bunch of kids that play hard,” Rawlings said. “It took us a little while to get settled in, not playing in the spring. ... They’ve gelled and come together and done a good job staying together as a team. When you play as many games as we play, we play 33 games in 30 days, it’s got to gel together well, and it has. I think we’re getting better every week, and hopefully we’re peaking at the right time.”

POCATELLO RAZORBACKS 13, BUHL 3 (5)

At Halliwell Park, the Razorbacks responded to Buhl’s first runs of the game with seven runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth to blow out the visitors.

Kevin Dahlstrom had three hits and drove in two for the Razorbacks, and Brody Burch threw a complete game.

POCATELLO RAZORBACKS 13, BUHL 3 (5)

Buhl 000 30 — 3 4 4

Pocatello 022 72 — 13 13 2

Pocatello — WP: Brody Burch.