Lawrence High starting pitcher Will Falk didn’t seem tired after his postgame jog Tuesday at Ice Field.

It might have been because he’d been running out of trouble for the previous two hours.

Though surrounded by Shawnee Mission North base runners nearly every inning, Falk bent but didn’t break on the mound, giving the Lions five strong innings in a 5-3 victory.

“When a guy doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s got to find a way to get them out, and Will did that,” LHS coach Brad Stoll said. “I don’t think they hit him particularly hard today. He just did an awesome job of fighting.”

Though he surrendered eight hits and four walks and hit a batter, Falk kept the Lions in the game by avoiding a big inning. The left-hander allowed three runs but left 10 Indians runners on base in his five innings of work.

“I just didn’t want them to score,” Falk said, “so I kind of buckled down after one or two of them got on.”

Fellow pitchers Daniel Green and David Freeman did their best to mimic Falk in the last two innings, giving up bases without ever giving in.

Clinging to the 5-3 advantage in the sixth, Green worked out of a bases-loaded jam by striking out Indians designated hitter Matt Kinsman.

Lawrence High's Will Falk delivers a pitch against Shawnee Mission North. Falk pitched five strong innings as the Lions won, 5-3, Tuesday at Ice Field.

After allowing back-to-back singles in the seventh, Freeman danced out of trouble by retiring the final three batters he faced, getting Lee Epps to pop out to short with the tying run left on second base.

In all, Shawnee Mission North left 15 runners on the base paths.

“It wasn’t our best-played game, but I told them that good teams find a way to win every game,” Stoll said. “To be a good team, you have to find a way to win those kinds of games.”

LHS opened its lead in the first when Marc Albers’ ground-rule double scored Brian Heere.

Lawrence High's Tyler Knight connects for a single against Shawnee Mission North. The Lions beat the Indians, 5-3, Tuesday at Ice Field.

After North tied it in the third, Lawrence responded with three in the bottom half of the inning. Michael Sickinger and Falk each added RBI singles, and the Lions took advantage of two Indian errors.

Albers manufactured the other Lawrence run in the fifth. After reaching on a fielder’s choice, Albers promptly swiped both second and third base, then scored on an errant throw by catcher Brian Schmutz.

Matt Wingert and Albers led the Lions with two hits apiece.

Lawrence will play Thursday in the River City Classic against K.C. (Mo.) Rockhurst. Now 5-6, the Lions will take a three-game winning streak into the game at Ice Field.

“The best thing about this club is that so far we’ve found a way to win close games,” Stoll said. “I think that’s very valuable.”