By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Kevin Hennessey summed up the Hays Larks' three games this summer against nonleague opponent Junction City.

"I don't know what it is when we play these guys, but it just seemed like everything that can go wrong, does," Hennessey said. "Our focus isn't there."

That included a 12-0 Larks' loss to Junction City at Larks Park on Tuesday night, the third straight time Hays has lost to the Generals. Hays has been outscored 22-2 in the three games. The Larks have been shut out three times in 2008, twice by Junction City. Tuesday's loss was Hays' worst in the regular season since a 12-0 drubbing against Derby on June 16, 2007.

"It just seems like we play real bad when we play them," Hennessey said.

Hennessey characterized Tuesday's loss as "embarrassed" and a "mental letdown," a defeat that ended Hays' season-best six-game winning streak and came a night after a wild 14-13 comeback victory versus Salina.

Hays was down 7-0 after three innings and 12-0 after five.

"I don't think we were flat," Larks manager Frank Leo said. "We just didn't pitch it good and anybody who has played the game of baseball knows that when you get down 7-0 that early, particularly with the way things are going and we know that we are piecing things together, it makes it awful tough."

The Larks committed more errors (five) than had base hits (four). Starter Jason Kudlock (1-1) went two-plus innings as Hays dropped to 23-12.

"That is just not the way we play," Hennessey said.

Kudlock, pitching in a game for the first time since June 24, covered just six outs and allowed six runs (five earned). It marked the first time since before the six-game winning streak a starter permitted more than three runs.

"He had no breaking pitch and his fastball was flat," Leo said. "I mean it was a BP fastball. You can tell by their swings. Even some of their outs were some hard ground balls or some hard outs."

Little offense and short outings by Larks starters have epitomized all three games versus Junction City (21-8). On June 12, Hays was shut out, 7-0, in a road game. The Larks produced just four hits and starter Kevin Large worked one inning.

Thirteen days later, Junction City beat Hays 3-2 at Larks Park, as the Larks delivered five hits and team pitched. On Tuesday, the Larks, hurt by seven games in six days, had to use five pitchers, including starter Patrick Cooper in relief.

The offense collected four hits and has batted .144 (13-for-90) versus Junction City pitching this summer. Generals starter Lance Hoge permitted all four hits in seven shutout innings and coaxed multiple outs on first pitches.

Two runners reached second, none made it to third.

"Their starter wasn't anything special, just straight fastballs, so that was why he got most of the guys swinging first pitch," Hennessey, who went 1-for-4, said. "Just coming over the top and he had a pretty good changeup, but other than that, nothing too good. It wasn't bad, but we definitely shouldn't have gotten embarrassed like that."

Junction City delivered 14 hits, including eight off Kudlock, and continually put pressure on the Larks' staff and defense.

"They are a good ballclub, I have said that before, they don't wow you," Leo said. "A lot of singles hitters; we are not doing a very good job of holding runners and not giving our catcher a chance to throw people out.

"They ran the bases, exploited that. The sign of a good ballclub is that they take advantage of every mistake an opponent gives them and they did that against us in all three ball games," Leo added.

Kudlock, who saw his earned-run average spike from 4.32 to 7.84, permitted two first inning runs on a double, two singles, a walk and an error by shortstop Mike Brownstein. Kudlock worked a scoreless second before he allowed the first four baserunners to reach in the third.

"Just didn't have a feel for his breaking ball tonight," Leo said. "You can't pitch with just fastballs."

Cooper, in a tuneup for his Friday night start at Liberal in a Jayhawk League contest, entered and worked two innings, allowing four runs (two earned).

"He didn't take that pitching intensity out that he needed to," Leo said of his ace who entered Tuesday with a 1.63 ERA. "He took his bullpen mentality out there instead of his pitching mentality. ... He didn't have near the intensity that he normally has."

Tonight, the Larks travel to Junction City for a rematch and an end to the four-game season series. Hennessey wants to exact a little revenge on the three defeats, especially Tuesday's loss -- the worst one at Larks Park in just over a year.

"Hopefully we are not going to go down there and do this again," Hennessey said. "We owe them some payback, so hopefully we can give it to them."