Lawrence High baseball players knew there wasn’t going to be any room for mistakes Monday against Shawnee Mission East, one of the top teams in the Sunflower League this season. Once they started beating themselves, they stood no chance.

The Lions committed three errors in the fifth inning, providing the Lancers with all of their scoring in a 4-0 loss at LHS.

The Lancers opened the fifth inning with an infield single to first base as LHS starting pitcher Brandon Bell was late running to cover the bag. In the next at-bat, catcher Drew Green fielded a bunt and tried to nab the lead runner with a throw to second, but it was too far behind.

“I told him, ‘I love that you tried to get the out at (second base),'” LHS coach Brad Stoll said. “One of our mottoes is, ‘Play with risk.’ He played with risk. He thought he got on the bunt quick enough to make that play. I trust Drew Green 10 times out of 10.”

SM East dropped another sacrifice bunt, but Bell’s throw to second baseman Brad Kincaid was wide of the bag and loaded the bases. After a strikeout, Kincaid fielded a grounder, but his flip to short to start a double play went wide and allowed two runs to score.

The Lancers loaded the bases once again with a single before a grounder went under shortstop Michael Sinks’ glove to bring in two more runs, putting LHS down 4-0. The Lions escaped any further trouble when first baseman Doug Easum started an inning-ending double play.

“Just our inability to take care of the ball in the fifth, that’s what it boils down to,” Stoll said. “That’s a really good baseball team, and we gave them six outs in that inning, and you can’t do that to Shawnee Mission East.”

The Lions (6-4) couldn’t do much against SM East (8-2) left-hander Trey Austin, who tossed five scoreless innings in relief. Austin worked ahead in most counts, striking out five, with a good fastball and a breaking ball that forced routine grounders. He only allowed one hit, a single to Parker Kirkpatrick in the fourth.

Austin entered the game in the third inning with runners on first and second and no outs. Ryan Walter sacrificed both runners into scoring position with a bunt, but a shallow fly out and a strikeout out ended the threat. The Lions also left the bases loaded in the second inning against Lancers starter Max Sanborn.

“That was disappointing not to scratch those across because you’ve got the heart of your order coming up there, and you feel pretty confident,” Stoll said.

Meanwhile, Bell matched Austin before the disastrous fifth inning, allowing just three hits and striking out three. Bell, who was on a shorter pitch count because he will pitch again on Saturday, said he thought Monday was one of his best outings of the season as his change up was extremely effective.

Though the Lions liked their chances in a pitchers’ duel with Bell on the mound, the margin of error was too small for a bad defensive inning.

“We just kind of lost focus during that inning,” Kirkpatrick said. “We bounced back well in the sixth. But just that one bad inning shows how it can really affect the game.”

The Lions will face Lee’s Summit (Mo.) West in their first game in the River City Festival at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Hoglund Ballpark.

SM East 000 040 0 — 4 3 1

Lawrence 000 000 0 — 0 2 4

W — Trey Austin. L — Brandon Bell (3-2).

LHS highlights — Bell, 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 Ks; Parker Kirkpatrick, 1-for-3, 1 IP, 1 K.