Lawrence High’s baseball team broke its four-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over Shawnee Mission South on Thursday at Ice Field. Almost more importantly, though, the Lions did so without committing an error.

“I don’t want to make a real big deal out of it, but it was definitely nice to have a game where we made the routine plays, and the kids built up some confidence,” said Lions coach Brad Stoll, whose squad improved to 6-10.

While Stoll and the Lions wanted to play down their improved defense, there was no doubting the importance it had in stopping a slump of four consecutive games in which LHS had five errors or more.

“It’s definitely a big building block for us considering where we we’ve been mentally the last couple of games,” Michael Sickinger said. “But we’ve always known we were capable of making the plays. Today, we just went out there and did that. It didn’t even feel like a game. We were just having fun and playing the way we should have all season.”

Sickinger’s smile appeared at the plate as well, considering he was a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored.

“Not a bad afternoon,” he said, with a laugh. “It felt really good to get back out there and get a big win against a good team. Hopefully, this will be just the kind of confidence-builder that we needed.”

After the Lions fell behind 1-0 in the second inning, Sickinger smashed a solid two-run homer to right field to score teammate Brett Sims, who reached on an error.

Sickinger later stepped up to the plate in the fourth and smacked a double over SM South’s shortstop to score Tyler Knight, who was off and running after reaching on a single.

LHS starter Will Falk fooled the Raiders for the most part on the mound.

Lawrence High's Michael Sickinger strokes a double against Shawnee Mission South. Sickinger went 3-for-3, including a home run, as the Lions snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory Thursday at Ice Field.

While he did give up six hits, he fanned four in an 89-pitch performance that took only an hour and half to complete.

The Lions, however, did run into a tad of trouble in the sixth when SM South had two runners on with one out.

The Raiders would have scored at least one run on a hard grounder to short that the Lions’ Marc Albers couldn’t get to. But when the ball bounced off the lip of the outfield grass, another SM South run was able to cross the plate.

But the next inning, Falk returned to the mound and retired the side in order for the victory.

“He just pitched his butt off,” Sickinger said. “I give a lot of credit for how our defense responded today, but Will made it a lot easier on everyone.”

While Stoll said he was pleased with his team’s effort in all phases, he expressed that he might have been most impressed with how the Lions responded after the adversity in the sixth.

Lawrence High's Daniel Parker, left, slides safely into third base against SM South. LHS won, 4-3, Thursday at Ice Field.

“It definitely would have been easy for us to let down after those runs, because SM South is no slouch,” he said. “But the guys went right back out there and did what was working for them all game long, they played every pitch and were prepared for every scenario.

“I think we proved a lot to ourselves today, and hopefully we can build on that kind of success the rest of the season.”