Absent teams cause change in tournament format

The Lawrence Raiders’ tournament winning streak has been halted by too many teams jumping ship.

Three teams dropped out of this weekend’s Raiders’ Invitational, meaning a round-robin format will take place instead of a tournament.

“I was wishing that we were going to be able to field this tournament,” Raiders coach Troy Wingert said. “That way we’d hopefully go for three in a row and have a big momentum swing going into the last leg of our season.”

Instead, the five teams in town will now alternate playing each other without determining a champion.

The Raiders took the Bartlesville (Okla.) Fourth of July tournament over the weekend with a 4-0 win against host Bartlesville. In June, the team also won the Al Ice Memorial Woodbat Classic played in Lawrence.

The squad will play its first games of the weekend Saturday, taking on Springfield-Glendale (Mo.) in a doubleheader starting at 10 a.m.

The Lawrence Outlaws will also participate in the event, facing Springfield-Glendale at 8 p.m. Friday.