Salina ? In his first at-bat of the Class AAA American Legion state baseball tournament, Ben Wilson quickly erased the memory of his hitless performance in the zone tournament last weekend in Lawrence.

Wilson hit a three-run home run with Travis Sanders and Kyle Cross on base and sparked a Lawrence Raiders’ 15-5, run-rule victory over Pittsburg on Friday at Dean Evans Stadium.

“It was a good way to set the tone for the tournament,” said Wilson, who went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and finished a triple shy of the cycle. “It’s good to score that many runs and good to show other teams that we score a lot of runs and that they are going to have to score runs with us to hang on.”

Top to bottom, the Raiders’ lineup couldn’t be stopped. All nine batters reached base safely at least once, and all but Johnny Novotny came around to score.

Hunter Scheib and Patrick Johnson each scored three runs.

Sanders continued his strong offensive postseason, going 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs – two of which came on a double off the base of the wall in the seventh inning to clinch the 10-run advantage needed to end it early.

“I was just looking for my pitch, and I got it, and I really wanted a home run, I’m not going to lie,” said Sanders about his double. “But I got the pitch and drove it and did what I had to do. I wanted to end the game right there, and that’s what happened.”

Starting pitcher Joe Kornbrust earned the win by going six innings. He gave up just one earned run on five hits. He also struck out four batters and induced six ground-ball outs.

With the double-elimination format, the Raiders have guaranteed themselves the opportunity to play at least through Sunday, with hopes of making the championship game on Monday.

“If we had lost the first game, you actually have to pack up all your stuff, and they check you out at the hotel,” Raiders coach Shaun Edmondson said. “So it’s going to be nice to be able to come back to the hotel and not have to worry about where you’re staying the next night.”

Edmondson said he plans to pitch Caleb Gress in today’s 5 p.m. game a against the Blue Valley Jaguars, a team which Lawrence defeated, 7-1, in the semifinals of the Al Ice Memorial Woodbat Classic in June.

The Jaguars also were the Raiders’ second-round opponent in last year’s state tournament, a game which Lawrence won by run rule, 10-0.