The Lawrence High baseball team ultimately came up short in its final game of the River City Baseball Festival on Saturday against Blue Valley, but LHS coach Brad Stoll admired the way his team competed.

“Really, really proud of them, man,” Stoll said. “We played three games this weekend, and two of them were just great battles. (Tonight) we played one of the best teams in Kansas and went toe-to-toe with them. Tonight was a slugfest, and we hit some balls on the screws.”

In what was an extra-inning, 9-8 win for Blue Valley at Hoglund Ballpark, the Tigers and Lions combined for 22 hits, including three triples.

Blue Valley showed aggression on the basepaths early in the first. The Tigers stole three bases off LHS starter Austin Quick in the inning, which helped them post four runs in the frame.

LHS quickly answered back with two runs in its bottom half of the first. Senior Reese Carmona drilled an RBI triple into the gap, and Quick drove an RBI single up the middle to cut the Blue Valley lead in half.

After the first, Quick also settled in on the mound. He retired six of the next seven batters and held Blue Valley scoreless in the second and third.

“(After the first inning), he came up and said, ‘Am I up a little bit?'” Stoll said. “And I go, ‘Yeah, that’s why they tattooed you.’ And then to his credit, he got the ball down and he was commanding his secondary pitches. He’s got a chance to be really special.”

At the plate, Quick tied the score at 4-4 in the third when he smacked a two-run double over the left side of the Blue Valley infield.

Three batters later, junior Preston Harris put LHS in the lead with a two-run triple.

At one point, the Lions appeared to be in control of the game. LHS led by as many as three runs in the fifth, and it received steady production from Carmona at the plate. He reached base in each of his at bats, going 3 for 3 with two walks, a stolen base and two RBIs.

“I knew they were a good team. I knew I had to go up there swinging,” Carmona said. “So, I was just not letting anything get past me. I wasn’t letting myself get down in the count. I went ahead early and it worked out.”

However, Blue Valley battled back by scoring four runs in the final innings, including the go-ahead run in the eighth.

With two outs in the inning, Logan Pittman drove a towering RBI single to right and fell in front of the charging right fielder Caleb Mondi. The hit allowed Dylan McLain to score.

However, LHS didn’t go away quietly. Harris led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk and advanced to second base in the inning, but Payton Cummins grounded into a double play to end the game.

Still, Carmona said he thought the Lions’ performance against Blue Valley showed that they can compete with any team in the state.

“We battled,” Carmona said. “They’re the No. 1 team in the state right now, and we didn’t pay attention to who was in the other dugout. We just played our game. That kind of showed what kind of team we are, and in late May, it’s going to show for sure.”

Blue Valley 400 102 11–9 12 0

Lawrence High 204 020 00–8 10 2

W–Jay Long. L–Devin Lauts.

2B–Quick, LHS; Brady Petersohn (2), BV; Alex Totta, BV. 3B–Pittman, BV; Carmona, LHS; Harris, LHS.

LHS highlights–Quick, 5.1 IP, 8 H, 7 R, BB, 4 K; Carmona, 3 for 3, 2 R, 2 BB, R, 2 RBI; Quick, 2 for 2, R, BB, 3 RBI; Harris, 1 for 3, BB, 2 RBI.