Topeka ? Lawrence Raiders pitcher Jake Hoover said he wasn’t nervous when he took the mound in the championship game of the Topeka 400 tournament Sunday at Seaman Field.

The start was the Free State High senior-to-be’s first this summer, and it came in the Raiders’ biggest game yet. The only nerve-racking situation with which Hoover had dealt with recently was a pinched nerve in his lower back that had bothered him for a couple of weeks.

But the brief vacation must have worked. Hoover struck out 11 batters, and the Raiders’ offense rolled to an 8-1 victory over Topeka Post 400.

“My arm was pretty juiced up today,” Hoover said.

So were the Raiders’ bats.

After squeaking out a pair of one-run victories in its first two games of the tourney, Lawrence’s offense blew up for eight runs on 10 hits Sunday.

“They really responded well to the challenge I gave them,” said Raiders first-year coach Reggie Christiansen, whose team improved to 6-1. “The last couple of days we really didn’t come out to play, we just expected to win. I reiterated to them that no matter the opponent you have to prepare to play a full seven-inning game every day.

“And today, we did that. It was the best we played, it was the hardest we played, and also the best opponent we played.”

Leading 1-0 in the fifth inning, Raider Tyson Corley corked a double that scored Joe Crane and Grant Meisenheimer, and Lawrence never looked back.

“It’s kind of nice to get a hit like that every once in a while because I’m just supposed to be a pitcher,” said Corley, who just graduated from Mill Valley.

Corley did pitch this weekend, but that was Saturday in the Kansas State All-Star game. His red team won, 9-6, over the white.

“You can’t really beat this kind of weekend,” Corley said. “It’s pretty fun when you can get a little action both on the mound and at the plate.”

Hoover’s success came off the rubber — he struck out the first seven Topeka batters he faced.

“My back felt pretty good,” Hoover said. “So, too, did playing the way we did. We were kind of embarrassed with the way we played yesterday, and the last few days we haven’t really been playing to our potential. Today after sitting down and talking about it, we hooked it up with a good win.”

The Raiders play host Wednesday to the Blue Valley Jaguars at Free State Field.

Lawrence Outlaws 12, Leavenworth 5

Cole Massey’s double in the fifth inning broke a 3-all tie and opened the floodgates to the Outlaws’ big offensive afternoon. Lawrence (4-1) plated five runs on five hits in the inning.

“It was a good chance for us to get a look at all the guys on our team,” said Outlaws coach B.J. Gray, whose team’s only loss in the tourney was to Topeka 400.

“We kind of got a feel for what this team is capable of. Our bats got going there and we put some crooked numbers on the scoreboard.”