photo by: John Young

Lawrence High sophomore catcher Reese Carmona prevents Sioux Falls O'Gorman junior Brandon Ching from scoring during their game in the River City Baseball Festival Friday evening at LHS.

After nearly fighting back from a five-run deficit against Sioux Falls (S.D) O’Gorman on Friday, Lawrence High’s baseball team had no fight left in the late innings in a 22-4 loss at LHS.

The Lions trailed, 5-0, in the top of the first inning. They chipped away at their deficit over the next two innings, but couldn’t keep up with O’Gorman’s bats.

LHS pitchers left the ball up in the strike zone, and O’Gorman hitters had no problem turning the game into a hitting clinic.

In the sixth inning, the Knights scored 10 runs on 10 hits against three LHS pitchers. With two outs, they had six straight hits and one batter hit by a pitch.

photo by: John Young

Lawrence High sophomore Andrew Stewart slides into home for a first inning run during the Lions' game against Sioux Falls O'Gorman in the River City Baseball Festival Friday evening at LHS.

“Kind of a good thing that the scoreboard didn’t work 90 percent of the evening,” LHS coach Brad Stoll said, “because I got tired of looking up there when it did work.”

How well were things going for the Knights?

O’Gorman junior Brandon Ching, out of the nine-hole in the batting order, went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI. He was one of five batters with at least three hits.

“Those guys can flat-out swing the bat,” Stoll said. “When you pitch from behind all night, that’s going to happen. Then when you do throw strikes and they are elevated, that’s what is going to happen. We’re on the field (again) in 18 hours, flush it and move on. Just sometimes you get thumped, and it was ugly.”

The Lions (5-5) scored three runs in the first inning, when their first four hitters reached base. After sophomore Reese Carmona hit a leadoff single and sophomore Andrew Stewart drew a walk, senior Brad Kincaid hit an RBI single. Sophomore Devin Lauts followed with a RBI double to center field, and Kincaid later scored on an error.

In the second inning, the Lions only trailed by a run after Stewart hit a single, advanced two bases on wild pitches and scored on a ground ball to short, beating the throw to the plate.

“They punched us in the mouth, and we fought back,” Stoll said. “I thought if we could keep it close, we’d be all right because we’ve been in those games, and we’ve been fine. But then they just blew it open, and we had no answer.”

The Knights scored three runs in the top of the third inning with five straight hits, including back-to-back doubles by Hunter Thompson and Luke Rysavy.

In the fifth inning, O’Gorman scored four runs, and the Lions left the bases loaded.

Lawrence will face Maize at 6 tonight at Kansas University’s Hoglund Ballpark.

O’Gorman 503 04(10) — 22 24 1

Lawrence 310 000 — 4 8 2

W — Elliott Barnes. L — Ethan Taylor, 2-1.

2B — Devin Lauts, LHS; Andrew White, Hunter Thompson, Luke Rysavy, Peyton Garbers, Jake Pudenz, Jacob Rogers, Brandon Ching (2), OG.

LHS highlights — Andrew Stewart, 1-for-2, walk, 2 runs; Brad Kincaid, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs, 2 stolen bases; Lauts, 1-for-3, RBI; Carter Shook, 1-for-1.