IDAHO FALLS — One inning can swing the momentum of a ballgame and determine its outcome. For one team, it spells elation. For the other, hardship.

    And in the Razorbacks’ case, giving up seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning after leading the Meridian Rangers 4-1 in the opening game of the American Legion A State Tournament was something they couldn’t overcome in an 8-4 defeat.

    “Bad time for the worst inning of the year, huh?” said Razorbacks head coach Dan McCaskill.

    Things looked promising for Pocatello as it took the field with six outs — two innings — standing between the team and victory. The Razorbacks had held the Meridian batters to five hits and one run in a defensively-dominated game. Leading up to the decisive frame, they got an RBI from Conner LaMont and a clutch two-RBI single from Ethan Hunt with two outs.

    With Trevor Bowers on the mound, the Rangers needed an offensive explosion. They came through.

    Bowers quickly found himself in a jam with the bases loaded and no outs. He had given up two hits and a walk and worked his way into a 3-0 count to the fourth batter. After the fourth ball, a runner crossed home, and McCaskill switched out Bowers for Mason Foltz.

    “I’ve told these guys from day one, walks kill. And they did,” McCaskill said.

    But things didn’t pick up, at least not right away. Foltz walked the first batter and gave up a bloop single past third baseman Kam Farnsworth to concede another score. After Foltz threw three straight strikes to get the first out of the inning, Meridian’s Phoenix Hanneman hit a liner to shallow center. As the runner on third scored easily, the runner on second sprinted down the base path to try and get home. He was denied by center fielder Greg Gwinn, who threw a precision toss to catcher Cory Meyer to get the out at the plate.

    With two outs, the dazed Razorbacks were down by one. That was when Meridian’s Jack Borton blasted a two-RBI triple to extend the lead to three. After a passed ball that hit the backstop during the next at-bat, Borton crossed home. The Razorbacks finally got out of the inning on a groundout.

    “They had a couple hits that weren’t even hit hard,” McCaskill said. “Just those seeing-eye bloops. That happens. That’s baseball.”

    With the loss, the Razorbacks will have to fight through the consolation bracket — which means more games — in order to place in the tournament. For many teams, this would be a discouragement. But the Razorbacks feel that letting a win slip through their mitts will be enough to ignite a spark and propel them through the competition.

    “We’re really fired up right now,” Hunt said. “We have to put some intimidation on the teams because we can’t lose now. ... We have to keep pushing through.”

    And if there is a team in the tournament that can make it happen, McCaskill believes it’s his Razorbacks.

    “I guarantee if this was in Vegas and they had odds of who could do that — who could lose their first game and then come through the loser’s bracket — it would be us,” McCaskill said. “I have 100 percent confidence we can do it.”

    The Razorbacks move to the loser’s bracket to take on the St. Marie’s Savages today at 10 a.m. at Melaleuca Field in Idaho Falls.

Meridian 8, Razorbacks 4

Razorbacks 010 003 0 — 4 7 4

Meridian     000 017 x — 8 10 2

Razorbacks — Trevor Bowers, Mason Foltz (6) and Cory Meyer. Meridian — Jacob Herberger and Chase Labbe. 2B — Connor LaMont (R). 3B — Jack Borton (M).