Lawrence High junior Daonte Lowery was tired of his baseball team losing. He wasn’t going to let anything stop him from helping the Lions to a victory on Friday night.

It didn’t matter that the Lions were no-hit for the second time this season. Lowery kept Jefferson City (Missouri) hitters from doing any damage, and the Lions won 2-0 at LHS. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak and was their first win since April 9.

“Unorthodox, but I really don’t give a damn right now,” LHS coach Brad Stoll said. “It was a good win. We challenged them to come together as a unit and do it as a team, and I think that was a great team win. Daonte was really special tonight on the mound. We played really good defense, and we ran the bases well.”

Lawrence High senior Michael Sinks shows some emotion as he lets out a yell towards the LHS dugout after scoring a run on a close play at home plate during LHS' River City Baseball Festival game against Jefferson City Friday night at LHS.

The Lions (3-9) scored both of their runs in the fourth inning using their speed. Their leadoff hitter, junior second baseman Brad Kincaid, was hit by a pitch. He used a delayed steal to take second base and advanced to third with a good read on a pitch in the dirt.

The next hitter, senior shortstop Michael Sinks, hit a ground ball to Jefferson City’s shortstop, who threw home, but the catcher dropped the ball, and Kincaid slid safely home. Sinks later stole two bases and scored on a dropped third strike, taking off for home when the catcher threw to first base and sliding under a tag when the first baseman tossed back to the plate.

“We spend probably 30, 40 minutes of practice every day working on base-running,” said Sinks, who will play at Palomar College in California next year. “Our coaches believe it’s important, so we believe it’s important, and we take it seriously and get better at it every time.”

Meanwhile, the left-handed Lowery puzzled the Jays from the mound. He gave up two hits in six innings while striking out six and walking four. He kept his pitches low, which kept most of the balls in the infield.

“You know, I didn’t have any certain pitch that was on,” Lowery said. “I just went out there with a mind-set that I’m not going to let them beat me.”

Jefferson City’s designated hitter Bret Jaegers hit a leadoff single in the sixth inning, but Lowery promptly picked him off — the second runner he picked off Friday — to end the threat.

“Believe it or not, those were my first two pickoffs ever,” Lowery said. “I developed it this year. I didn’t use it last year at all.”

The Lions struggled against Jefferson City’s senior right-hander Travis Hennessy, who struck out 11 in six innings with a devastating curveball. Lowery said the lights played a factor in their first night game of the season.

“He was a good arm. He kept adjusting your eye level,” Sinks said. “He had a nice breaking ball when he threw it for a strike. We were very aggressive tonight. We swung at a lot of pitches out of the zone probably. But we need to be more aggressive. We haven’t been very aggressive lately.”

Sinks relieved Lowery for the seventh inning and gave up a leadoff single before getting two pop flies and a groundout to pick up the save. The last two outs were recorded by freshman second baseman Andrew Stewart, who made his varsity debut in the inning.

The freshman was rewarded with the traditional Gatorade bath after the game.

Despite being no-hit, the Lions were just happy to celebrate the end of their losing streak.

“It feels great. It feels amazing. New life,” Lowery said. “After the loss (Thursday), I didn’t know what to expect today. But I think we renewed our confidence.”

The Lions will play St. James Academy at 8:15 tonight at Kansas University’s Hoglund Ballpark.

Jefferson 000 000 0 — 0 3 1

Lawrence 000 200 x — 2 0 1

W — Daonte Lowery. L — Travis Hennessy. SV — Michael Sinks.

LHS highlights — Lowery, 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 Ks; Sinks, 1 IP, 2 stolen bases, run, RBI.