After staging dramatic comebacks in back-to-back games, the Lawrence High baseball team faced a deficit it could not overcome Saturday night.

Blue Springs (Mo.) defeated LHS, 10-0, at Hoglund Ballpark. Because of the 10-run margin, the mercy rule was enacted after the sixth inning of the final game of the River City Baseball Festival.

“You hate to end your weekend just getting it handed to you,” LHS coach Brad Stoll said. “That was a very talented team. They just absolutely hammered the ball.”

And Blue Springs prevented LHS from returning the favor. Wildcats pitcher Kyle Barbeck stifled the Lions, striking out nine batter while allowing only four hits during his complete-game victory.

“He could do just about anything he wanted,” said senior Daniel Parker, who had two hits. “His fastball – once he got it in on our hands – was almost unhittable.”

Stoll called Barbeck a Divsion-I caliber pitcher. He threw fastballs in the mid- to upper-80s, located his change-up, spun his breaking ball and used all of his pitches efficiently.

LAWRENCE HIGH SENIOR DANIEL PARKER drops the ball as he tries to tag out Blue Springs (Mo.) baserunner Ben Briant while an umpire watches the play. Blue Springs beat the Lions, 10-0, on Saturday at Hoglund Ballpark.

Lawrence High senior Jordan Guntert watches the ball fly by during a game against Blue Springs at Hoglund Ballpark on Saturday. Lawrence lost 10-0.

“He was legit,” Stoll said. “He was the best we’ve seen all year.”

Blue Springs (11-1) also demonstrated its offensive power, racking up six of its runs in the game-changing fourth inning. Eric Silkwood and Matt McHenry singled; Bubby Williams, Ben Briant and Bret Schwartz doubled; and Williams, Briant, T.J. Schieber and Andrew Melanson drove in runs during the frame.

“They got a couple of hits to fall,” Parker said. “And then just the floodgates opened.”

Much of that inundation came against Lions starting pitcher Daniel Green, arguably the team’s best arm. The senior, who intended to work the plate from inside to outside, allowed six runs and nine hits during 3 1/3 innings to take the loss.

“It wasn’t his best, and he knows that,” Stoll said. “He’s a competitive kid, and it bothers him. But he had to hit spots, and when he didn’t – being the good offensive team that they are – they took advantage.”

Although the River City series ended on a sour note for the Lions (7-4), the team can hang its hat on two impressive wins against high-caliber teams Thursday and Friday. Against Thursday’s opponent, Omaha (Neb.) Creighton Prep, LHS bounced back from a six-run deficit in the fifth inning to win 14-7. On Friday the team did the same while trailing 6-4 in the sixth before Nick DeBiasse’s single won the game during the bottom of the seventh.

Because of those rallies, LHS remained confident it could pull out a win against Blue Springs even while trailing by a large margin.

“The thought was in the back of our minds. We knew we could do it,” Parker said. “But it just didn’t happen.”

Although the Lions never mounted much of a charge Saturday, they hope to return to their winning ways while hosting Shawnee Mission East on Tuesday.

“We’ve got sticks,” Green said. “They just didn’t wake up tonight.”