Lawrence High runner Matt Sutliffe looks to slide under a throw to Olathe East catcher Nic Bradley in the second inning Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at Lawrence High.

Matt Sutliffe might not be overly enthused by his current walk-up song — “The seniors picked it,” he says of the Dixie Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces” –but as long as the results keep coming, the Lawrence High sophomore certainly can learn to live with it.

Two weeks after hitting the first home run in the Lions’ new state-of-the-art stadium, Sutliffe again went deep in the bottom of the fourth inning Tuesday to help the LHS baseball team rattle off an easy 6-0 victory over visiting Olathe East.

“Keep the Dixie Chicks rolling,” said Lawrence High coach Brad Stoll, whose team improved to 5-6 overall, 5-1 in the Sunflower League. “We’ll listen to anything if he keeps hitting. We’ll listen to the Dixie Chicks, Britney Spears, whatever.”

On a day standout pitcher Albert Minnis turned in his first truly dominant performance of the season, giving up just two hits in seven scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts, Sutliffe helped make sure the Lions’ offensive output was sufficient as well.

His two-run home run pushed the Lawrence High lead to 4-0 and provided further proof that the youngster can contribute for a state-championship-caliber program despite being in just his first season as a member of the Lions’ varsity team.

One of just four underclassmen listed on the Lions’ roster, Sutliffe already has established himself as a viable member of the lineup, something he credits to a summer spent playing with the Mac-N-Seitz competitive baseball program.

“I had a pretty competitive summer,” said Sutliffe, who finished 1-for-1 with two walks Tuesday. “I saw 80-85 (mph) speed pretty much every game, and the summer pretty much prepared me for this.”

So far, that has translated into some success at the plate and — more importantly — a vote of confidence from the man who fills out the lineup card every day.

“You’ve got to find a way to get a kid like that on the field,” Stoll said, “because he can change the game with one swing of the bat.”

“He’s got the potential,” the coach added, “to leave here with some pretty prolific power numbers.”

Tuesday’s victory was the most recent step forward for a team battling back from a tough start to the season.

A challenging early-season schedule put the Lions in an unexpected hole out of the gate, but the team has gone 5-1 in league play, with Tuesday’s victory representing what might have been the team’s most complete game of the year.

“We’re starting to come together,” said freshman Shane Willoughby, who finished 1-for-3 with an RBI against the Hawks. “Albert threw the ball real well, and we game him some run support, so it was a good (day).”