Mandan, N.D. — Five innings into the rematch with the team that sent the Lawrence Raiders tumbling into the loser's bracket of the American Legion Central Plains Regional, Lawrence coach Kevin Tucker watched as Eden Prairie, Minn., collected six runs off six hits off his dwindling pitching staff.
What, Tucker worry?
The Raiders responded with eight runs in the bottom of the fifth and rolled into today's championship with a 17-12 victory Sunday over the two-time defending national champions.
"We believe in ourselves," Tucker said. "We've come this far now, played in so many big games, we feel we're just as good as anybody else here. Absolutely we thought we could come back. We had been scoring 81â2 runs per game. We were in their bullpen. We thought once we got to the second or third guy in their pen, we'd be OK."
The Raiders (38-7) will face Rapid City, S.D., in a championship game at 1 p.m. today. Rapid City (56-21) improved to 4-0 in the regional with a 4-1 victory Sunday over Watertown, Wis.
Lawrence would need to beat Rapid City twice today to win the regional championship.
"They're a heck of a team," Tucker said. "They've got a lot of good players, but hopefully we can continue this hitting streak."
The Raiders had 19 hits against Eden Prairie on Sunday. The Minnesota state champions beat the Raiders, 12-8, to open the regional Thursday.
"We knew it would be a slugfest," Tucker said. "It was a slugfest the first time, so we knew it would come down to whoever had the most pitching at the end. Those guys are as physical as they can get. The first time, for us, we had that long 19-hour flight delay and the long layoff before we played them. They put up a few runs the first inning of that first game, and we never got back into it. We got a fresh start this time and stayed with 'em, had a little bit better idea what to expect."
Lawrence struck first with two runs in the second and two more in the fourth. Eden Prairie made it 7-4 in the top of the fifth before the Raiders all but put it away with their eight-run fifth.
Leadoff batter Brian Heere was 4-for-6 with six RBIs, Brett Lisher was 4-for-6 with three RBIs, and Jake Hoover had three hits and two RBIs.
Max Ellenbecker picked up the win despite allowing five runs - four earned - off eight hits over 31â3 innings. Will Falk pitched a hitless ninth for a save.
"It's been like this for us the whole year - if not the top of the lineup, it's the bottom of the lineup," Tucker said. "Everybody was a part of this big win."
Hoover is expected to start today's first championship game. Beyond that :
"We're running pretty thin," Tucker said. "We'll just take it one inning at a time."
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