Lawrence High starter Dorian Green wipes his brow as he returns to the mound. Green gave LHS six solid innings of five-hit ball, but Lawrence High fell, 2-0, to Blue Valley in the state semifinals on Saturday at Hummer Sports Complex in Topeka.

Topeka ? Dorian Green was very good. Tyler VanGerpen was better.

That’s the gist of Blue Valley’s 2-0 victory over Lawrence High on Saturday in the Class 6A state baseball tournament at Hummer Sports Complex.

“Dorian put us in a position to win,” said Lions’ designated hitter Travis Sanders, “and we just didn’t get enough hits.”

Green, a junior right-hander, surrendered five hits and fanned six Tigers.

“It came down to two pitches,” Green said afterward. “I hung a slider and I left a fastball over the middle.”

The hanging slider resulted in an RBI single by shortstop J.P. LaMunyan in the third inning, and the fat fastball was drilled into right field for an RBI double by DH Nate Kerkhoff in the sixth.

“I don’t think he had his best stuff,” Lions’ coach Brad Stoll said of Green, “but he battled through some adversity.”

Green (3-3) walked three and hit a batter, and one of those walks and the batter he plunked scored.

Meanwhile, VanGerpen, also a junior right-hander, stymied the Lions on three singles – two line drives to left by Joe Kornbrust and an Aaron Rea grounder up the middle that caromed off VanGerpen’s leg.

“That kid threw well,” Stoll said of VanGerpen, who wears shades because he is blind in one eye. “I was impressed. I’ll bet he threw 90 percent fastballs and he kept them down.”

Lawrence mounted two threats and they were eerily similar. In the second inning, Sanders walked with one out and was singled to second by Kornbrust. VanGerpen escaped, however, by whiffing the next two hitters to end the threat.

Virtually the same scenario developed in the Lions’ last-ditch seventh. This time Sanders walked and Kornbrust singled but with no outs.

In that situation, Stoll opted to have Jake Green, the next hitter, bunt in order to advance the potential tying run to second base. But Green fouled off two pitches, then struck out swinging.

Moments later, VanGerpen fanned Tyler Bailey on four pitches and finally caught Green looking at a called third strike to send the Tigers into today’s delayed championship game.

“It was drawn up like a story- book,” Sanders said of that last frame, “but it didn’t have a storybook ending.”

The Lions and Tigers had been scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Saturday, but the game didn’t start until more than four hours later because of wet field conditions caused by an overnight storm.

Worse, a bolt of lightning wiped out the field’s electricity and, with no lighting available, state officials couldn’t continue the tourney at night. Thus an additional day had to be tacked on to complete the bracket.

If the Lions had won Saturday, the championship game would have been on Monday because Lawrence High’s graduation will be this afternoon. For the same reason, today’s third-place game was scrapped.

Coincidentally, the Lions were also scheduled to play for the consolation championship last year in Wichita, and that game was canceled because of threatening weather.

So for the last two years, the Lions have advanced to the semifinals only to lose and have the third-place game called off. Moreover, Dorian Green was the starting and losing pitcher in last year’s semi, too, and it was also to a Blue Valley school – West.

“It does feel a lot like last year,” Green said. “And I feel exactly the same. It hurts right now because I feel for the seniors.”

Six seniors played for the last time in a Lawrence High uniform.

“I think we can look back and be happy,” said Sanders, one of the departing half-dozen. “I think we shocked some people.”

Specifically, the Lions stunned top-seeded Free State, 4-3, in Friday’s first round. Last year they had advanced to the semis by spilling No. 2 seed Olathe East.

Lawrence finished with a 12-11 record. More than half their losses were by two runs or less. The Lions’ dropped four one-run decisions and two games by two runs.

“I’m proud of them,” Stoll said of his players “But your heart’s heavy because six guys are leaving the program.”