Raider Ben Wilson swings and misses against the Giants during the Al Ice Memorial Woodbat Classic Championship game. The Raiders fell, 7-2, Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark.

Raider Ben Wilson swings and misses against the Giants during the Al Ice Memorial Woodbat Classic Championship game. The Raiders fell, 7-2, Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark.

Lawrence's John Novotny pulls back from a pitch in the Al Ice Memorial Woodbat Classic championship game. The Raiders fell to Sam's Service Giants, 7-2, Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark.

The Lawrence Raiders earned their chance to repeat as champions of the Al Ice Memorial Woodbat Classic and an opportunity to avenge Friday’s run-rule loss to Sam’s Service Giants.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, they had as many errors (five) as hits and fell to the Giants, 7-2, in the championship game Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark.

“It was just one of those days,” Raiders second baseman Travis Sanders said. “We didn’t really get many breaks and didn’t get many hits. It was just one of those days.”

Although the Raiders were able to slap some hits against the Giants after going hitless in the first meeting Friday, they were unable to get any production from the middle of the order. Their Nos. 3 through 6 batters were a combined 0-for-13 and stranded six base-runners.

“It boils down to execution a lot of times when you’re playing a good ballclub like they are,” Raiders coach Shaun Edmondson said. “I felt we deserved to win, but we didn’t have it today. It’s a tough loss right now.”

Raiders catcher Patrick Johnson was the only player outside the top two batters in the lineup to collect any hits. Johnson was 2-for-3 and scored the Raiders’ final run.

But the hottest player at the plate for the Raiders was Sanders.

Batting out of the No. 2 hole, Sanders went 2-for-2 and walked twice.

He also scored a run when he stole second and third and came home on a errant attempt by the catcher to pick him off.

Sanders’ performance over the five games of the tournament – batting 6-for-15 with eight steals, three RBIs and three runs scored – earned him a spot on the all-tournament team.

“He works hard. The kid’s a competitor – like most of our whole team,” Edmondson said. “They come out and they compete and work hard. And that’s all you can ask from them. So, yeah, he deserved to be on the all-tournament team. The guys that made the all-tournament team deserve to be on the team, but we had a couple of other guys that deserved to be on the all-tournament team that weren’t.”

Alex Hardman also landed on the all-tournament team thanks to his pitching performance in a semifinal Sunday morning against the Blue Valley Jaguars.

Hardman went all seven innings and gave up just one run on six hits and struck out three in the 7-1 victory.

The Raiders’ offense attacked early, scoring five runs in the second inning, with Kyle Cross knocking in two runs and Ben Wilson following with a two-run double. Then in the third, Drew Hulse and Adam Emerson came around to score for a second time.

The Raiders’ Hulse, who pitched a complete-game victory against the Arkansas City Black Diamonds on Saturday to advance Lawrence to the semis, joined Sanders and Hardman on the all-tournament team.

Next for the Raiders is a doubleheader Tuesday at Emporia in a rematch of last year’s American Legion state-championship game, which Lawrence won, 13-6.