The temperature dropped. The pitch count mounted. And Dorian Green, Lawrence High’s unflappable sophomore right-hander, just kept getting better.

That’s the thing about special athletes. They smell the finish line and everything gets sharper, crisper for them. Few things in sports could match Oscar de la Hoya in his prime smelling blood and finishing off his opponent. He hands quickened, his punches sharpened, his feet sped up. Michael Jordan in the fourth quarter was better, fresher, when everyone else had grown stale.

Green, who first tasted the city rivalry by leading the Lions back from a 17-point deficit to a victory over Free State on the basketball court a few days before Christmas, added to his exploding reputation as a clutch performer Thursday night under the lights of Free State High’s baseball diamond.

Many of the few hundred people who parked their chairs to give themselves angles to watch the city rivalry at a ballpark that’s not very spectator-friendly started the game in short sleeves and finished it wrapped in blankets.

Meanwhile, Green heated up, adding a few mph to his fastball in the late innings.

“I felt like that a little bit,” he said of picking up velocity. “I just kind of had some juices flowing and I really wanted to get the job done.”

In pitching LHS to a berth in the 6A state tournament in Wichita with an 8-1 victory over Free State, Green tossed a three-hitter and struck out eight batters. He retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.

The lone run he allowed came in a shaky first inning. He allowed one hit in the final six innings – John Wilson’s double to the edge of the warning track leading off the sixth inning. Throwing harder than he had all night, Green struck out the next three batters. They all went down swinging at high heat. Through the early innings, it was his curveball that was working best for him.

Such a smooth operator at point guard for the Lions, Green brings a similar poise to the mound. It’s difficult to say which is looser, his right arm or his personality. Pressure must be afraid of Dorian Green because when he performs in big situations, it runs away and hides.

“I’ve been nervous a little bit,” Green said. “I just try to keep it inside, make my plays one play at a time. Pitch by pitch. Out by out.”

It’s never a good sign when a pitcher stalls between pitches and speaks in body language that screams he would rather be doing anything else, anywhere else. In contrast, Green practically sprinted to the mound at the beginning of every inning, looking as if he couldn’t wait to crank it up again.

“Pitching is what I love to do,” Green said. “It’s fun.”

LHS was seeded No. 1 in the 6A sub-state in basketball, but was bounced in the first round by Leavenworth.

“It’s a big-time win for our program,” Green said. “We didn’t get to state in basketball, but we’re going in baseball.”

It’s quite an accomplishment for a school that came into the season having lost its last eight games against the Firebirds, whose baseball program was well known for its three Rs (Ritchie, Ryne and Robby Price.)

The Firebirds were Price-less this season. Green? Money in the clutch again.