STERLING, Colo. -- The Sterling Baseball team clinched a spot in the CHSAA State Baseball Championship as the number four seed and won their first game Friday.

The boys batted off against Resurrection Christian at University High School and won 8-6 on Friday. The Tigers now play the number one seed, Eaton, later the same day.

The team, coached by Michael Mendenhall, went 11-5 this season.

"We are very excited to play at state. It’s been a heck of a year and these young men have been an absolute joy to work with," Mendenhall said.

The last time the Tigers made it to the state tournament was in 2015 when they lost to the Arvada Bulldogs, according to MaxPreps.

"It has been 7 years since we have been back to state," Mendenhall said. We are very proud of our eight seniors who will be graduating tomorrow, Saturday the 28th."

Dylan DiOrio, Noah Soper, Casteus Combs, Andrew Meick, Easton Wilson, Jackson Keil, Steven Seghi, and Tylor Felzien are the team's senior players.

DiOrio and Meick have signed to play baseball at McCook Community College.

Wilson signed his letter of intent to play baseball at Dakota College at Bottineau.

Soper is expected to play college baseball at Northeastern Junior College, while Combs is committed to wrestle at Northeastern.

Keil is in the process of signing for college basketball.