By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

PITTSBURG -- On Saturday night, the Hays Legion baseball team had to play a game that lasted 3Ôªø1âÑ2 hours with the temperature over 100 degrees. Four Eagles pitchers were used in one inning during the 23-16 loss to Pittsburg in the Class AAA state tournament.

Just a little more than12 hours later, Hays had to take the field again in a loser's bracket game.

Hays had little left against Lawrence and lost 11-1 Sunday in a game called after seven innings because of the 10-run rule. Raiders starter Caleb Gress, second team all-state Class 6A in the spring for Lawrence Free State, delivered a complete game and allowed just three hits.

"Little flat," Hays coach Mike Jenner said. "The game last night took a lot out of us. I knew it would. We competed for a while, but we were just out of gas. The kids knew it."

Hays (29-16) went 1-2 in its first trip to state since 2004 and finished in a tie for fifth. The 29 wins were a 10-game improvement from 2007, as Jenner finished his first year of his second stint as the Legion coach. Jenner called the season "very successful," a sentiment echoed by infielder Austin Klaus.

"I was pretty proud of our club to get here," Klaus said. "We met two goals of (HBA president) Mel (Karst's) this year. We won three games down in Pueblo and we got to the state tournament, so I was pretty proud of our guys."

Against Lawrence, Hays was a little tired, low on arms and missed its starting catcher for half the game. Jay Sanders, the starter all season for Hays High School and the Eagles, suffered some lower abdominal pain after he was hit by a foul ball Saturday night.

His younger brother, Jarrett, who moved up from the Junior Legion, caught the first half of the game and batted ninth.

"(Jay) was still sore and he was walking kind of gingerly," Jenner said. "I wanted Jarrett to go, get him some experience back there and give Jay a little more time to get loosened up."

Travis Budke, the only pitcher who hadn't thrown in the first two games at state, started and worked 3Ôªø2âÑ3 innings against the Raiders, a team primarily consisting of players from Lawrence and Lawrence Free State, two teams that both reached the 6A baseball playoffs during the high school season.

Budke permitted single runs in the second and third before Lawrence tallied four more in the fourth. That knocked Budke (6-2) out of the game after 70 pitches. It was Budke's first loss to a Kansas team all summer.

"Either Travis goes seven or Travis goes four," Jenner said. "He is real effective, but once he loses it, it's over."

Logan Downing and Matt Maskus, both used in the Pittsburg game, came back for the second time and finished the contest.

Gress, a left-hander, shut down Hays with what Jenner called a "real nasty slider." Hays tallied its only run in the first when Matt Malott led off with a walk, Klaus singled and Sam Rohleder hit a sacrifice fly.

Gress struck out 10, including Kelton Rule three times. Rule entered the game with 12 strikeouts all year and had five hits, including a homer, in the first two games at state.

"He picked up on our inability to hit the off-speed (pitch) and he had some good movement on that slider and that curveball as well," Klaus said. "He had been throwing more sliders than we had been seeing and we just weren't able to pick it up."

Lawrence tallied four more in the fifth and one in the seventh to end the game.

Lawrence second baseman Aaron Rey went 3-for-5 with three doubles, three RBIs and three runs scored, while designated hitter Ben Wilson reached base three times and also drove in three runs.

Lawrence 11, Hays 1

(7 innings)

Hays (29-16) 100 000 0 -- 1 3 2

Lawrence 011 440 1 -- 11 12 0

Budke, Downing (4), Maskus (4) and Jar. Sanders, Jay Sanders (4); Gress and Green. W -- Gress (7-3). L -- Budke (6-2). 2B -- Abel, Rey 3, Hulse, Lawrence.