Lawrence senior pitcher Grant Cleavinger pitches against Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Thursday afternoon, during Lawrence High’s 3-0 win over Jefferson City (Missouri) in the opening game of the River City Tournament at Hoglund Ballpark, LHS senior Grant Cleavinger experienced his own Clayton Kershaw moment.

Leading 3-0 with two innings to play, LHS coach Brad Stoll approached his hard-throwing left-hander in the dugout and told him he only had five pitches left before grabbing a seat on the bench.

“And he shot me a look like he was going to knock me down,” Stoll said with a laugh. “I started laughing and said, ‘Dude, it’s a joke. It’s like Kershaw.'”

A couple of days earlier, Kershaw, who is a Los Angeles Dodgers teammate of Cleavinger’s brother, Garrett, was pulled from action after throwing a perfect game through seven innings despite having tossed just 80 pitches.

The move sent the Major League Baseball world into a frenzy given the fact that Kershaw was just two innings away from what could have been just the 24th perfect game in MLB history. Such is life. Such is baseball.

The younger Cleavinger, who hit 96 pitches on the day, was not perfect on Thursday, but the Lions (7-3) executed their gameplan with him on the mound to near perfection.

“Our message most of the time is just give Cleav and (Ike) Cobb one or two runs,” Stoll said. “Because that’s what both of those guys can do. Grant was feeling it today.”

So were his teammates. Outfielder Truman Juelsgaard, who led the Lions’ offense with three hits including a double and a run scored in the fifth, said a 2-0 lead with a guy like Cleavinger on the mound is the ideal position for this team.

“It feels like we’re up a lot,” he said. “Him and Ike. When they’re on the bump, we just have so much confidence. They’re our horses. We have great chemistry on this team and it feels like we’re really close to blowing some doors open.”

By his own admission, Cleavinger was a little erratic early on during Thursday’s win. But he never let Jeff City find a rhythm. The Jays had just three hits through five innings and never really threatened. He struck out eight batters, using a nasty back-foot slider to retire a few of them, and walked just three.

In the fifth, after giving up a leadoff single for Jeff City’s third hit of the day, Cleavinger got the next batter to softly ground to second baseman Brady Edmonds, who routinely flipped the ball to Evan Bannister at second before firing to Sammy Stoll at first to complete the double play and end the threat.

“In that situation, I was just trying to get outs,” Cleavinger said after the win. “But with those two up the middle, you know they’re going to make plays. It’s a really great feeling to have that safety net.”

Stoll said the security vibe goes both ways.

“We’ve got a very athletic outfield, a very sure-handed infield and those kids will get behind Grant Cleavinger,” the LHS coach said. “They have total faith in him and they know they’re going to get his best effort every night.”

Getting that in a big game, and at a big event, was just what the Lions wanted to see on Thursday.

“I think it’s huge,” Cleavinger said. “River City’s just an absolutely huge deal and a lot of these guys haven’t been in this environment before and it was good for them to see what this is like and get it started with a good win. Hopefully we can carry that through the rest of the season.”

Added Stoll: “I don’t know if I would call it a statement win. We kind of did what I think we should’ve done, but I think we should’ve done it a little louder. We were close. It’d be nice to blow it open and get nine or 10 runs sometimes. That makes it a little easier on the old man. But today was a good win for us.”

LHS returns to action on Friday at 3:45 p.m. against Carthage (Missouri) at LHS.

LHS 3, JCH 0

Jefferson City 000 000 0 — 0 4 1

Lawrence High 000 210 X — 3 10 0

W – Grant Cleavinger (3-1) L – Zac Arnold. Save – Noah Kirk (3)

Highlights for LHS: Truman Juelsgaard 3-for-3, 2 2Bs, run; Evan Bannister 1-for-3, 2B, RBI; Braden Hoffman 1-for-3, run; Sam Stoll 2-for-3, run; Keyan Crawford 1-for-2, 2 RBI; Grant Cleavinger 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 8 K, 3 BB; Noah Kirk 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H.

Lawrence senior Evan Bannister throws the ball to first against Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Lawrence junior Noah Kirk looks to his bench against Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Lawrence senior Braden Hoffman in the on deck circle against Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Lawrence junior Noah Kirk is jubilant against Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Lawrence sophomore Tyson Grammer fields a ground ball against Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Lawrence sophomore Tyson Grammer throws the ball to first against Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Lawrence junior Noah Kirk pitches against Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Lawrence junior Noah Kirk is jubilant after pitching against Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

photo by: Chance Parker/Journal-World Photo

The Lawrence High outfielders are jubilant after defeating Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Lawrence senior Grant Cleavinger is jubilant after defeating Jefferson City during the River City Baseball Festival at Hoglund Ballpark on Thursday, April 14, 2022.