LHS junior Aaron Rea is congratulated after scoring a run against Manhattan. After defeating Manhattan, 4-3, LHS crushed Washburn Rural, 9-1, on Wednesday in Topeka.

Topeka ? With a movie star smile that makes the women swoon and a big league slider that buckles the knees of batters, it’s no wonder that the Lawrence High baseball squad refers to Dorian Green as “Hollywood.”

“He always seems to get a little bit more press than some of us, so I guess that makes him an easy target,” senior Travis Sanders said of the squad’s ribbing of Green. “He deserves it (the press), though, and we all know that. I love the guy. He can throw like that and get all the press as long as we get wins.”

Green was Mr. Big Time for the Lions both on the mound and at the plate in LHS’ 9-1 victory over Washburn Rural in the regional championship game Wednesday at Shawnee County Amateur Baseball Association park.

The win earned Lawrence its second straight trip to state, which will be held May 23-24 at Hummer Sports Park in Topeka.

“Obviously going back to state is a good accomplishment for our baseball program,” Green said. “So we’re ready to go and hopefully bring back a state championship to Lawrence High.”

Green announced his presence with authority against Rural with a few fastballs down the heart of the plate early. Then Green mixed in the slider that the Junior Blues batters had difficulty handling.

The junior went all seven innings, gave up one unearned run on five hits and struck out eight.

“Some of those sliders were nasty and I think you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Dorian, but you’ve also got to give a lot of credit to coach (Eric) Thompson, our pitching coach,” LHS baseball coach Brad Stoll said. “He saw some things on film and made some great adjustments. Dorian’s so athletic, so intelligent and so coachable. He took everything coach Thompson gave him, cleaned it up, found that slider and it was really special tonight.”

Green was also special at the plate, hitting a two-run double in his first plate appearance against Washburn Rural as part of a four-run second inning.

“I don’t know where that plate appearance came from, honestly,” Sanders said. “He’s been struggling at the plate, but big players show up in big games. He definitely has ice in his veins.”

The rally was started when Sanders drew a walk on a full count and fellow senior Joe Kornbrust knocked him in with a double. Tyler Bailey had a single to score Kornbrust before Green knocked in both Bailey and Jake Green, who had reached on a walk.

LHS scored three more in the sixth when Dorian hit a two-run triple to plate Kornbrust and Bailey. That was followed by an RBI single from Aaron Rea.

The Lions’ offense caught fire earlier in the day when they had to go through Manhattan prior to facing Washburn Rural.

Lawrence collected 10 hits in a 4-3 win against Manhattan, which ended the Indians’ run of five years making an appearance at state.

Chase Muder came up with the big runs for LHS in the afternoon game. The senior catcher hit a two-run double down the left field line to score Dorian and Rea. After stealing third, Muder then scored LHS’ fourth run on a wild pitch.

Senior starter Tom Schuh went six innings and just like Green in Game 2, all three runs the lefty allowed were unearned. After allowing six hits and striking out four batters, Schuh turned the ball over to Kornbrust, who closed out Manhattan in order to end the game.

“We’re just trying to do what we always try to do in keeping the team together and being strong leaders,” Kornbrust said of the seniors. “We did our thing and everything just came together.”