By Ed Shepherd
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

After the Kennedy Catholic Lancers beat Prairie, 7-2, in their West Central District baseball opener Saturday they needed one more win to advance to state regional tournament action.

But that didn't happen in a game the Lancers led big before losing, 7-5, to the Auburn-Riverside Ravens at Art Wright Field in Kent.

Auburn-Riverside is a team that plays for sure in regionals while the Lancers need to win three straight games just to get there, starting with Bonney Lake at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Heidelberg Park in Tacoma. If the win they play at 10 a.m. Saturday at the same site and if they win that they play another loser-out game at 4 p.m. If they win that game they go on to regionals.

"In high school baseball you can't let a team believe they can get back in it," said Kennedy coach Dale Dolejsi of the Auburn-Riverside loss.

Kennedy Catholic got up by five runs in the first two innings against the Ravens.

In the bottom of the first, leadoff hitter Jared Thurber hit the ball deep to center field and it hit off the glove of the fielder backing up.

Thurber stole third, then Nick Blakley worked the count to three balls and two strikes and performed good fundamental baseball by grounding the ball past the pitcher to second base. The fielder could only throw to first to get Blakley as Thurber raced home on the hit-and-run call.

Then after a couple of outs the Lancers' fifth batter Andrew Ellingson hit an RBI triple.

The next batter popped out to right field to leave Ellingson on base.

In the bottom of the second inning for the Lancers they kept things happening with Grayson O'Neil hitting a single. Austin Luquin singled him to second and O'Neil stole third.

A balk called on the Ravens' pitcher scored O'Neil and put Luquin on second.

Next up, Evan Galando laid down a perfect bunt down the first base line. With runners at the corners, Thurber hit a two-RBI double to up the Lancers' lead to 5-0.

And with no outs and Thurber on second base the Lancers did nothing. The next three batters hit the ball but to the Ravens' defense.

So that was not good for a team trying to get another to doubt it had a chance to come back.

Then neither team scored in the third inning, but Dolejsi thought his team could have scored if it kept following the game plan.

"We stopped swinging at first pitch fastballs," said Dolejsi to his players after the game. "We got to trust our game, guys, and keep being the aggressor."

In the top of the fourth, the Ravens started to see some light, cutting the lead to 5-1.

After the Lancers got out in the bottom of the inning the Ravens rallied for three runs on three hits to make it 5-4.

In the Ravens' sixth they tacked on more.

The first two batters walked before a pickoff attempt missed to put runners on second and third.

Then the next batter hit a bunt single to the right of the pitcher down the third base line. It was a tough play, but doable as the throw got to the first baseman's mitt in time but hit the glove high and popped out.

That led to a single and a couple of sacrifices for scores. When the smoke cleared the Ravens led, 7-5.

The Lancers did have one more chance to believe they could come back in the bottom of the seventh.

After a leadoff fly out to center field Jacob Thurber, the team's catcher who stifled a rally in the first with a throw on the mark to second on a steal attempt, drew a walk.

Then Ellingson did what looked like a nice piece of hitting, soft swinging a shot into shallow right field. But the Ravens' right fielder made an ESPN reel catch, diving straight forward and spearing the ball for the out.

So with two outs the next batter Alex Parker drew a walk and O'Neil got a hit to load the bases.

The Ravens then switched pitchers and the next batter struck out to end the game.

Lancers captain Marco Calderon said after the game, "We can't make errors, physical or mental."

Then going back to Dolejsi, as the players were looking dejected, he said, "We can't sugar coat this situation. We have to stay positive, but this one hurt. We have a long ways to go, but I don't put it outside of us."

In the district opener Parker broke a 2-2 tie with a two-run single.

That's the kind of belief the Lancers need going forward.