Cade Laudeman gave up six runs in the second inning but recovered for a complete-game victory in Morris’ 8-6 road win over Sycamore on Wednesday.

Logan Conroy was 0 for 3 until he hit a two-run tying double against the Spartans (10-15 overall, 8-6 Interstate 8). For all the ups and downs Morris (13-15, 9-5) went through in coming back from five runs down in the second, the one consistency was RJ Kennedy and the back of the lineup.

Kennedy, the No. 8 hitter, was 3 for 4 with a run and an RBI. His two-out double in the seventh drove home courtesy runner Quaid Phillips, who replaced Laudeman after he started the rally by being hit by a pitch.

“I was sitting fastball, got it, turned on it and got it,” Kennedy said. “It ended up being a double.”

Kennedy’s single put Morris up 7-6, its first lead since 1-0 in the top of the second. No. 9 hitter Landon Norris, who drove in the first run of the game on a single that also plated Phillips after a Laudeman single, came up with another two-out RBI single.

This time, his single up the left side of the infield brought home Medler, who singled and finished 2 for 3 with an RBI double in the third.

The No. 6 through 9 hitters - Laudeman, Medler, Kennedy and Norris - were 10 for 15 with six runs and four RBIs. Morris had 13 total hits in the game.

“We’ve gone through stretches like that this year, and this series has proven positive that the bottom of our order can square up baseballs,” Kein said. “It’s certainly clicking for us in that capacity right now.”

Morris scored three in the sixth off Sycamore starter Sawyer Valdez to tie things up. Laudeman started with a single. Kennedy singled and then Phillips, again running for Laudeman, scored on a passed ball.

Norris singled to put runners back on the corners and Conroy doubled home Kennedy and Norris to tie the game at 6-6.

“Logan’s a gritty kid,” Kein said. “He hadn’t had much luck earlier in the game in the box. But he’s had one heck of a last month. He’s one of our hottest guys right now and he’s always going to give you a chance when he steps into the box.”

The Spartans exploded in the second and took a commanding 6-1 lead, scoring all of their runs with two outs. Valdez’s single through the right side of the infield scored Connor Busch and Alex Van Mastrigt.

Jackson Macdonald followed with a towering three-run homer to right-center to push the lead to 5-1, then after a Noah Necces double, Chace Kuhns singled to cap the scoring.

Busch reached on an error in the inning, making all the runs charged to Laudeman unearned. He allowed 11 hits, three walks and struck out three.

“We had a guy up in the pen and we’re thinking about turning the page,” Kein said. “Then he really started to settle in and really started to get control of the game back.”

At one point, Laudeman retired 15 of 18 batters until Busch and Van Mastrigt hit back-to-back two-out singles in the seventh. But Laudeman struck out pinch-hitter Henry Hamingson to end the game, finishing with 106 pitches.

“When you score six runs in the second inning we can’t allow the pitcher to finish the game,” Sycamore coach Jason Cavanaugh said. “We had him on the ropes in the second inning. They had somebody warmed up in the third inning. Then we decided we were just going to hit a bunch of lazy fly balls the rest of the game.”

Ben Anderson, Busch and Van Mastrigt had two hits each for Sycamore.

The loss was the seventh in the last eight games for the Spartans, who had won seven of eight directly before that. Sycamore, which had led the Interstate 8, fell out of contention with the loss. Kaneland, Morris and Ottawa are all alive for the title.

“I want to see us play good baseball the rest of the way,” Cavanaugh said. “I’m not sure we were ever really in contention for that. I know the standings said we were in first place. But a lot of things had to go right for that to happen, and a lot of those things haven’t gone right since then.”

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