In Game One of the Lawrence Raiders’ doubleheader Sunday afternoon at Free State High, the Raiders run-ruled Emporia Post Five, 9-0.

Teammates congratulate Raiders' Ben Wilson, right, after scoring a run Sunday in the team's 9-0 victory against Emporia at Free State High.

In Game Two the Raiders held off a late rally to win, 9-6, and earn the sweep.

“We played pretty solid baseball for the most part,” Raiders coach Shaun Edmondson said. “In the first game, a lot of things went our way, and we were able to jump on them, so pretty good team effort today.”

Game One starter Caleb Gress opened by throwing heat. His fastball consistently hit the mid 80s. And through two innings, Gress fanned four batters. But Gress said he doesn’t try to be a power-pitcher.

“Not really. I just started throwing a little harder this year,” Gress said. “I’ve been working hard in the weight room to get my legs and everything stronger so I can throw harder.”

In the early going, the Raiders (23-15) didn’t match Gress’ success offensively. In the first two innings, the Raiders had five runners in scoring position, but only one scored.

In the third inning Ben Wilson set the tone for the rest of the game. Wilson crushed the first pitch of the inning to deep center field for a triple.

“I don’t necessarily try, that’s just my role on the team,” Wilson said. “Coach expects me to hit balls hard out to the outfield, so I just try to do my job.”

The Raiders followed that with another four-run burst in the fourth, putting the game out of reach.

Gress pitched four innings and had five strikeouts.

“He’s progressed tremendously throughout the year,” Edmondson said. “He had a couple of rough outings to start the year, and people started to question him a little bit, and I think that might have affected him a little bit initially. But he’s totally regained his form from the spring. He’s done a tremendous job lately.”

In Game Two, left fielder Jason Sneegas led the Raiders’ offense, going 3-for-4 with a double and five RBIs.

In the fourth inning, Sneegas made a diving catch to end an Emporia rally, and in the bottom of the inning he drove in two runs, pushing the Raiders’ lead to five.

“He did a good job,” Edmondson said. “He’s a role player, and when he’s called upon to do his role, he does his role tremendously a lot of times.”

Raiders’ pitcher Preston Scheibler pitched the final inning of the first game and entered in the sixth inning of Game Two with the bases loaded. He struck out the first batter and ended the inning, allowing two inherited runners to score. He closed out the game in the seventh.

“He was supposed to start on Thursday, but his flight got delayed, and he missed his start,” Edmondson said. “But he’s done a good job out of the bullpen, and we might need him down the stretch in the bullpen.”

The Raiders will play in the zone tournament Thursday night at 6 p.m. at Free State.

Edmondson said he liked his team’s chances.

“We feel more and more confident,” he said. “We kind of had our goal of winning the zone tournament and going on to the state tournament, and that’s kind of where we’re at right now. So everything we’ve done to this point is to try to progress to get to there. So I think we’re on or way, and I think we’ll show up really well.”

Raiders 9-9, Emporia 0-6

Game One

Emporia Post 500000- 0 2 1

Raiders014 4x- 9 10 0

W – Caleb Gress, 4 IP, 1 H, 5 K, 3 BB, 0 R.

3B – Ben Wilson.

Lawrence Highlights -John Novotny, 2-for-3, Travis Sanders, 1-for-2, Preston Scheibler, 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R.

Game Two

Emporia Post 5011 0220- 6 10 2

Raiders031302x- 9 7 1

W – Alex Hardman, 4 IP, 7 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 2 R.

2B – Jason Sneegas.

Lawrence Highlights – Sneegas, 3-for-4, Travis Sanders, 2-for-4. Travis Spurling, 1.1 IP, 6 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 4 R, Preston Scheilber, 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 0 R.