Pittsburg ? If the Lawrence Raiders are going to win their fifth State Legion AAA baseball title in the last six years, they’ll have to come out of the losers bracket.

Blue Valley Northwest exploded for six runs in the fourth inning on the way to an 8-4 win in the tourney opener Friday at JayCee Park.

The Raiders (29-18) will meet Arkansas City in the losers bracket at 10 a.m. today.

“That’s the beautiful thing about a double elimination tournament,” Raiders coach Shaun Edmondson said. “We get to keep playing. We need to flush this one aside and move on.”

Friday’s game was a study in frustration for the Raiders, who had breezed through the zone tournament by compiling a .533 team batting average.

The Raiders outscored opponents 68-8 in three games at last weekend’s zone tournament, but could not get the offensive machine rolling Friday.

Lawrence managed only six hits Friday – two by third baseman Clint Pinnick – and was charged with three errors. One of those miscues fueled the BV Northwest six-run fourth.

“We didn’t catch a fly ball,” Edmondson said, “and the flood gates opened. They had a couple of big two-out hits.”

Down 7-0, the Raiders cut the gap to four with two runs in the fourth and one in the sixth. The Huskies increased their lead to 8-3 in the seventh, then weathered Raiders’ rallies in the eighth and ninth frames.

Lawrence loaded the bases in both innings, yet was blanked in the eighth and managed just one run in the ninth.

Left-hander Caleb Gress is scheduled to pitch in this morning’s elimination game. If the Raiders survive, they’ll play again at 8:30 p.m.