Lawrence Raiders second baseman Travis Ice tags out Blue Valley Northwest's Spencer Boland as Raiders shortstop Kyle Cross watches the action. The Raiders won the American Legion zone championship Friday with a 28-2 victory at Free State High.

It’s nice for a baseball team to know it can still put up 28 runs with one of its best athletes out of the lineup.

That’s 28 runs in a seven-inning game.

And that athlete is Brett Lisher.

The Lawrence Raiders were without Lisher – who is participating in the Kansas Shrine Bowl football game – in the heart of their lineup, not that it mattered in a 28-2 run-rule win over Blue Valley Northwest in the championship game of the American Legion zone tournament at Free State High on Friday.

“Missing a guy like Brett Lisher obviously hurts, but I’m confident that we have enough talent on our bench that we can fill in his spot,” Raiders coach Troy Wingert said. “Now, he’s going to be missed, but we’ve just got to move on. He’s not going to be here so we’ve got to move on and take care of business in Salina.”

One key to the massive amount of runs was the outing by leadoff man Tyler Knight. He knew things were going to go his way when he laid down a bunt single to open the Raiders’ half of the first, but he couldn’t have predicted a 4-for-6 night with two triples and six RBIs.

Lawrence Raiders left-hander Max Ellenbecker throws against Blue Valley Northwest. Ellenbecker earned the win Friday night against the Huskies at Free State High.

“I just saw it well tonight,” Knight said. “It happens, every once in a while. I was just trying to be aggressive early. They threw me a couple of fastballs over the middle of the plate and I just got to do something with it.”

Another element in the Raiders’ run support was the inconsistency of the Huskies’ pitchers, who issued 13 walks and hit seven batters.

The best example of the poor pitching was the 21 consecutive pitches taken for balls – or as plunks on the back – by the Raiders’ John Novotny. It wasn’t until his sixth at bat that he swung at the ball, and his second swing of the plate appearance resulted in a single.

“One thing that’s disturbing is, we get hit seven times and there’s no warnings issued – no nothing,” Wingert said. “I understand that it was out of hand, but as young as these kids are you’ve got to teach them the proper way to play the game. That’s what’s disturbing about this victory, is that nothing was done about the free passes that they were issuing us via hit batsmen.”

Lawrence Raiders third baseman John Novotny throws to first during the championship game of the Legion zone tournament at Free State High. The Raiders cruised past Blue Valley Northwest, 28-2, on Friday to advance to next weekend's American Legion state tournament.

On the flip side, the Raiders rode Max Ellenbecker for five strong innings. He gave up two unearned runs in the second – the same inning the Raiders posted 12 runs – and finished with six strikeouts.

“The first couple of innings I was struggling with my location,” Ellenbecker said. “And then, after that, I just settled down and threw strikes and got people out.”

With the game in hand, Wingert turned to John Sneegas and Daren Parker to close it out. Both pitchers faced the minimum number of batters – Parker issued a walk in the seventh but caught the runner attempting to steal third.

Just like in Thursday’s game against Lansing, the Raiders outfield didn’t get much of a workout as only three outs were recorded by Knight, Scott Heitshusen and Ellenbecker – who moved to left field when Sneegas took over in the sixth.

“Salina’s going to be a lot different and we’re going to see a lot more balls out there,” Knight said. “We’re just going to have to put some of that weight on our back. We’re not used to that right now, but we’ll get used to it.”

Lawrence 28, Blue Valley Northwest 2, 7 inn.

Blue Valley 020 000 0-2 3 1

Lawrence 1126 333 x-28 17 4

W-Max Ellenbecker. 3B-Tyler Knight 2, Travis Ice. 2B-Scott Heitshusen, Andy Petz, John Sneegas.