The LHS pitching staff, which goes seven players deep, is a primary reason the Lions are off to a 10-4 start this season. The staff, from left, is Andy Urban, Taylor Gentry, Tanner Kilmer, Ben Wyatt, Dorian Green, Mitch Whitson and Albert Minnis.

There’s a pretty ferocious battle going on within the Lawrence High baseball team’s pitching staff, but it has nothing to do with wins, strikeouts or earned-run average.

It has to do with innings.

“It gets hard sometimes. The rest of us just want to get some innings,” LHS junior Tanner Kilmer said with a straight and serious face.

Talk to the big-time arms that make up the front line of the Lions’ staff. From powerful lefty Albert Minnis to competitive righty Dorian Green and the crafty resurgence of senior Andy Urban, LHS coach Brad Stoll has found himself immersed in a boon of pitching talent. And he doesn’t mind one bit.

“In high school baseball in the state of Kansas, two guys can get you to the state tournament,” Stoll said. “We just happen to have seven that we trust.”

Call it a blessing or call it a curse, but either way it’s the Lions’ reality. Luckily, Stoll said all of the pitchers on his staff value winning and teamwork over things like greed, pity and selfish desires.

Take Minnis, for example. The junior southpaw who transferred to LHS from Park Hill already has received serious interest from a handful of major Division I baseball schools, including Kansas. But you can’t tell by talking to him. Minnis knows he’s the new kid on the block and through the first three-quarters of the season he’s done whatever he can to fit in.

“I didn’t expect it to be this easy,” Minnis said of meshing with his new mates. “This is a really great group of guys and I’m very lucky to be a part of this pitching staff. I’ve never seen so many ace-quality pitchers on one staff.”

By now, the seven-man unit has been broken down into three parts: Everyday starters, spot starters and relievers.

Minnis, Green and Urban are the team’s top three starters. Kilmer and Taylor Gentry typically come in as relievers and Ben Wyatt and Mitch Whitson receive spot starts whenever the schedule requires a quick adjustment.

“As a coaching staff we know it’s frustrating for some of those kids because we know they want to be on the mound,” Stoll said. “But they also know what kind of impact those other guys have had. We’re doing everything we can to get each guy on the mound as much as possible, but sometimes when you’re that bridge guy, that middle relief guy, you can be up in the pen for an inning or two but then if that starter goes one inning longer, you might not get the call.”

For the most part, all seven guys understand that and each has taken pride in defining and perfecting his role.

“We’re just ready for whatever they need us to do,” Gentry said. “All three of them (Minnis, Green and Urban) are always going for the complete-game shutouts. We know that’s what they want and we just try to do whatever they need us to do when they call on us.”

Added Whitson, the 6-foot-3 red-headed senior who has become a cult hero of sorts who goes by the name “Schwip”: “It’s fine with me. It’s just a lot of fun to watch them do so well.”

That statement could have come from just about any of the LHS pitchers, as all of them have been solid throughout the season.

Consider the following stats as proof: Minnis leads the Lions in wins (3), strikeouts (30) and ERA (0.74); Nobody on the staff has a losing record; Gentry has the highest ERA on the team (3.11) and four pitchers have an ERA of less than 2.00; Urban has pitched the most innings (24); None of them has walked more than seven batters.

Total all that up and you’re looking at a team with a 10-4 record, a 1.81 team ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of more than 3-to-1. In addition, LHS has recorded four complete games (1 each by Minnis, Green, Urban and Whitson) and surrendered just 23 earned runs — 1.64 per game. At one point, from March 21 through April 11, LHS ran off three straight shutouts, and built a streak of 22 scoreless innings.

But it’s not statistics that drive this bunch. Each hurler is motivated by what the guy in front of him does.

“These guys pop off to each other quite a bit and that just makes them all want to outperform the other guy,” LHS pitching coach Brandon Johnson said.

Added Minnis of the staff’s competitive bond: “We all make each other better.”

With the weather taking a turn for the wet and the regular season nearing its end, the Lions could face a scenario that has them playing several games in just a few days. If so, they’re ready, Stoll says.

“We all know that in Kansas, in the spring, we’re going to get backed up with rainouts,” Stoll said. “And I have the utmost confidence that any one of these guys can get the job done when we call on them. You can’t count on complete-game shutouts every night. At some point, we’re going to need all of these guys.”