Tristan Authier signs with Lincoln Christian baseball
(Photo courtesy of JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY) Sandpoint graduate Tristan Authier (‘19) pitches during a home game against Lakeland on April 18, 2019. Authier, a right-handed pitcher, signed his National Letter of Intent to play for Lincoln Christian University.
Stop if this sounds familiar: Chase Tigert and Sandpoint baseball has sent another pitcher to the collegiate ranks.
Tristan Authier, a 2019 graduate of Sandpoint High School, signed his National Letter of Intent to play collegiate baseball at Lincoln Christian University, an NAIA school out of Lincoln, Illinois.
“It feels like my dream is coming true already,” Authier said. “I just hope that I keep it going.”
The right-hander was a two-year varsity player at Sandpoint High School. During his junior year, Authier played his way into a starting role, culminating with a six-inning, seven strikeout outing against Vallivue in the 4A Idaho State Baseball Tournament.
As a senior, Authier logged 33.1 innings in 11 appearances with a 6.09 ERA. His best game of the season was also his longest outing: Authier struck out six, allowed six hits and only walked two batters in 5.1 innings of work against Minico on March 30.
Around the midway point of the 2019 season, the Red Lions found Authier on an online recruiting site, and the recruiting process began. At the time, Authier wasn’t sure where he wanted to go to college, but he did know one thing: He wanted to play baseball.
“At my level of play, I wasn’t ready for a D1,” Authier said. “But I was just looking for a team to give me opportunities to get better and see what happens down the road.”
He is the fifth Sandpoint senior to go on to play four-year baseball under Tigert. Next spring, Authier will join Caleb Edlund (‘17, College of the Siskyous), Trey Flint (‘18, MacPherson College), Jake Cometto (‘18, Oregon Tech), and Preston Pettit (‘18, Southern Virginia University) in the ranks of Bulldogs currently playing collegiate baseball.
Given Sandpoint head coach Chase Tigert’s experience as an elite high school pitching prospect — plus his experience playing collegiately at San Francisco and California Lutheran University — this pattern of sending players to the next level comes as no surprise.
Authier credits Tigert for instilling a work ethic in him and showing how much time is necessary to turn dreams of playing college baseball into reality.
“What was really nice about having Tigert as my coach is that he’s such a hard worker,” Authier said. “No matter what he’s doing, he wants to be the best at it. We have 3-4 hour practices all the time and he’s taken a lot of time off of his family to make us be a better team. And [he] taught me how much work and how much time I have to put in to be at a high level of baseball.”
Authier will report to campus on August 17, where he will see the campus and meet the team in person for the first time. Yet Authier feels that he has meshed well with the players and coaches he has reached out to already.
“It’s a young team, so I’m going to get a lot of pitching time,” Authier said. “It will be a really good placement for me.”
Lincoln Christian, an NAIA Independent member, finished 8-24 last season. The Red Lions only had one senior and six upperclassmen on the roster, making Authier an integral part of the program’s rebuild next season.