LAWRENCE HIGH PITCHER DREW HULSE (19) gets a hug from coach Brad Stoll as the Lions come off the field following the sixth inning of the Class 6A state semifinals. LHS fell to Blue Valley West, 7-5, on Monday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita.

The Lawrence High baseball team lost as a collective unit in the semifinals of the Class 6A state tournament and then grieved together.

During a lengthy postgame session, the players, who shaved their heads in unity, embraced. Coach Brad Stoll hugged each Lion and then put his arms around his wife, Emili, and his children, Jack and Sammy.

“We just all love each other,” senior John Novotny said. “It’s just a big family here.”

That kindred team lost, 7-5, to Blue Valley West at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium on Monday afternoon, ending the Lions’ season one game short of the finals.

“At Lawrence High, that’s the goal – to win state championships,” senior Nick DeBiasse said. “That was what was expected of us, and we did everything we could to make it happen and fell a little short.”

Although the Lions’ bats hammered Olathe East, 10-6, during Friday’s opening-round game, the Jaguars served as the early aggressors during Monday’s contest.

LHS starting pitcher Dorian Green breezed through the first three West batters during the first inning, but the Jaguars pounded him for three runs during both the second and third innings, and he threw three wild pitches.

“It’s kind of disappointing because I don’t feel like I played my best,” said Green through postgame tears.

West third baseman Cameron Seitzer, the son of former Kansas City Royal Kevin Seitzer, inflicted much of the damage, going 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Cameron wears No. 33, plays the hot corner and crouches in his batting stance like his father.

During the fifth inning, Stoll told Seitzer he was “damn tired” of seeing him at the place, and the junior responded with a laugh.

“He’s a great baseball player,” Stoll said. “We missed some spots, and he made us pay.”

While the Jaguars’ batters collected hits, starter JD Sutton proved equally effective. The pitcher struck out three Lions in the first inning, emphasizing a breaking ball with the occasional fastball. The senior kept LHS scoreless through four innings.

“He’s really, really aggressive,” Novotny said, “just an all-around really good pitcher.”

Behind Sutton and a potent offense, West staked out a 6-0 lead after four innings, but the Lions, whose season-defining 14-7 victory against Omaha Creighton (Neb.) Prep came after falling behind by six runs in the fifth inning, mounted another comeback Friday.

“That’s something we don’t even have to talk about anymore,” DeBiasse said. “We kind of expect to be able to come back, and we knew we would rally.”

During the fifth inning, Aaron Rea’s double drove home Clint Pinnick and Sam Anderson, and Travis Sanders’ single plated Rea to cut the margin to 6-3.

The rally continued in the next inning as Daniel Parker’s groundout scored Tony Williams, and Sanders singled, bringing Pinnick home and creating a one-run game.

“Down six, most teams would’ve probably checked it in,” Stoll said. “We just kept fighting,”

LHS (14-9), though, would never threaten again during its last game of the season.

Normally, the seventh-seeded Lions would have competed in a subsequent third-place game, but tournament officials canceled it because of stormy conditions. Monday’s game served as a makeup contest for Saturday’s rainout.

Although LHS mourned its loss Monday, the Lions can take pride in reaching state for the first time since 2002.

“We put Lawrence High back on the map,” Novotny said. “We’re trying to get this program where it needs to be.”

Blue Valley 7 West, Lawrence High 5

Lawrence High0000320-580

Blue Valley West033001X-7100

W-JD Sutton. L-Dorian Green (3 IP, 8H, 6R, 4K, 3 WP).

2b: Aaron Rea.

Lawrence High highlights: Travis Sanders, 2-4, RBI; Jordan Guntert, 1-3, SB; Clint Pinnick 1-2, HBP; Chase Muder, 1-1, 2 BB; Rea, 1-2, HBP, 2 RBI.