Lawrence's Travis Sanders takes a stab at a pitch during Friday's 4-3 loss to Liberty, Mo., at the Al Ice Wood Bat Classic at Hoglund Ballpark.

Lawrence Raiders first baseman Joe Kornbrust tags a Liberty's Brett Knight out at first Friday, June 20, 2008 during the Al Ice Wood Bat Classic at Hoglund Ballpark.

Raiders center fielder Matthew Abel returns a ball to the infield Friday during Lawrence's 4-3 loss to Liberty, Mo., in its second game of the Al Ice Wood Bat Classic baseball tournament at Hoglund Ballpark.

Oh, those frustrating LOBs.

Eleven runners left on base doomed the Raiders in Friday night’s 4-3 loss to Liberty, Mo., in the Al Ice Wood Bat Classic at Hoglund Ballpark.

“The kids did a great job of getting on base,” Raiders coach Shaun Edmondson said, “and we just couldn’t get them in.”

Still, for all the frustration of stranding 10 in the first six innings and failing to manufacture a run, the Raiders came very close to atonement in the seventh.

A hit batter, a single and a walk loaded the bases with no outs and Aaron Rea followed with a two-run single to cut Liberty’s lead in half.

Rea moved to second on the throw home with Ben Wilson, who had walked, motoring to third. Thus the Raiders had the tying runs in scoring position with three outs remaining.

Minutes later, Clint Pinnick plated Wilson with a sacrifice fly to center. Now the Raiders trailed 4-3 and the tying run was on second. That was the last gasp, however.

Matthew Abel grounded to second and Drew Hulse popped to short to send the Raiders to their sixth loss in their last eight games.

“We’re taking our lumps right now,” Edmondson said, “but if they will make us better for the postseason then we’ll take our lumps now.”

LOBs weren’t the only problem. The Raiders were guilty of four errors with three of the miscues occurring in the third inning when Liberty pushed across three unearned runs.

“Errors are amplified in a wood bat tournament,” Edmondson said.

The Raiders had six hits, but only one was for extra bases – Pinnick’s fourth-inning double. At the same time, however, they drew six walks off Liberty pitcher Dom LaRocca and the slender left-hander hit two Raiders with pitches.

“It’s a real frustrating deal,” said Abel, who had two bunt singles, stole a base and threw a runner out at home from centerfield in the fourth. “We did the same things last night.”

The Raiders committed three errors and also stranded 11 runners in Thursday night’s 5-2, eight-inning loss to Ozark, Mo.

Friday’s defeat, coupled with the loss to Ozark, dropped the Raiders to 0-2 in their tourney pool.

That means that even if the Raiders knock off Arkansas City in their final pool game at 7:30 p.m. today at Hoglund, they cannot play for the Classic title.

“The Raiders are usually in the championship game, but there’s nothing we can do,” Edmondson said. “Baseball can be a tough game, and we just have to keep chugging away.”

Chug away is about all the Raiders can do the remainder of the weekend with a berth in Sunday’s title game out of reach.

“It’s not going to affect us,” Abel said of the Raiders’ plight. “We’re not going to pack it in.”