Raiders shortstop Hunter Scheib, left, waits for the throw to tag out Dodge City Rangers runner Patrick Whisennand. The Raiders won Thursday at Hoglund Ballpark.

Lawrence Raiders pitcher Daniel Green delivers in the first inning against the Dodge City Rangers during the Al Ice Memorial Woodbat Classic. The Raiders won, 4-3, Thursday at Hoglund Ballpark.

Runner Matthew Abel is tagged out by Dodge City shortstop Ryan Bibens.

The Lawrence Raiders were just five outs away from winning their opening game of the Al Ice Memorial Woodbat Classic against the Dodge City Rangers.

But as the Raiders’ John Novotny approached the plate with runners at the corners in the bottom of the sixth, Hoglund Ballpark went dark.

After a 20-minute delay because of a breaker popping out and shutting off the lights around Hoglund, Novotny hit a sacrifice fly that brought in Travis Sanders for the deciding run in a 4-3 win.

“I definitely knew that him (Rangers pitcher Weston Arbogast) sitting there, he wasn’t going to be hot as usual and probably not going to be able to throw the breaking ball early in the count, so I knew he was going to try to get ahead,” Novotny said of his sacrifice fly, which came on a first-pitch fastball. “As a hitter, mentally, that’s what you’ve got to be looking for. You’ve got to think 0-0 fastball and trying to light it up – especially with runners in scoring position like we had.”

Novotny also singled in Hunter Scheib and Kyle Cross in the fourth inning to finally get the Raiders on the board. It was the last hit the Lawrence American Legion team would record.

The three hits by the Raiders were plenty, thanks to starting pitcher Daniel Green throwing six strong innings.

Things were a little shaky for Green in the early going. After getting the first batter of the game to ground out, Green gave up four consecutive singles – spurring a mound visit from Raiders coach Shaun Edmondson.

The visit worked out well, as Green struck out the next batter and induced a groundout to Cross at second base to leave the bases loaded.

“They just found some holes out there,” Green said. “I was just throwing strikes and trying to let them make outs but they found a couple of holes.”

From there Green carved through the Rangers’ bats over the next five innings.

Green allowed just three hits and two walks after the first inning. He finished the game with eight strikeouts while inducing five groundouts.

“I thought Daniel pitched extremely well tonight,” Edmondson said. “I think he got refocused and then was able to go from there.”

Edmondson decided that six innings was enough work from his starter and sent Caleb Gress to the mound to start the seventh.

“He pitched his tail off, and he was at 99 to 100 pitches,” said Edmondson, who was planning on pulling Green even before the delay during the sixth. “At this point in the season I want to make sure that the big picture is them being in condition to throw 100 or 120 pitches in zone and state (at the end of the season). So we’ve got to build ourselves up to that.”

But Gress also started out slow in his save opportunity.

Gress gave up a single and a walk to open the seventh. Both runners eventually came around to score before Gress closed the game on a strikeout with the tying run on first base.

The Raiders now will move to Ice Field for today’s pool-play action against Sam’s Service Giants, who defeated the Ark City Black Diamonds, 9-0, on Thursday. Edmondson plans to pitch Joe Kornbrust in the game scheduled for 7:30 p.m.