North Platte, Neb. ? The Lawrence Raiders endured a long, exhausting day of baseball, and managed to split a pair of games at the North Platte Invitational on Saturday.

The Raiders topped North Platte, 10-9, to open the day, then played again in the afternoon and fell to Sterling, Colo., 5-2.

The first game was delayed an hour because of an issue with the field’s tarp. By the time the second game ended late in the afternoon Saturday, Lawrence had been at the field for about 10 hours.

“It ended up being a pretty long day,” Lawrence coach Reggie Christiansen said.

The Raiders (24-12) jumped to a 4-1 lead after one inning against North Platte, and held on behind the pitching of Jake Hoover, who notched the victory.

Chris Coleman pounded three hits, and Carl Lisher blasted a two-run home run.

Later in the day, the Raiders returned to the field and fell to Sterling, which scored all five of its runs in the fifth inning.

Tyler Blankenship socked a first-inning homer, and Dominick Harrell added a pair of hits to pace Lawrence’s eight-hit attack.

The Raiders will wrap up play in the North Platte Invitational today.