Free State High’s baseball players weren’t posing for a team photo when they all took a knee in center field following Tuesday’s 6-4 Sunflower League baseball loss to Olathe East at the FSHS field.

Miffed after losing for the fourth time in five games, Firebird coach Mike Hill scolded his team for 20 minutes out of earshot of the few fans mingling outside the ballpark.

“When it’s necessary, we go out there,” said Hill, whose team dipped to 6-6 overall and 1-4 in the league. “It was a lackluster performance on our part. Offensively we were atrocious. We come out like a house of fire the first two innings, then we just stop. Six runs doesn’t win that ballgame if you’re locked in and willing to get the job done.”

Free State scored three runs in the bottom of the first, when sophomore third baseman Kyle Unruh stroked a two-run single to center field with the bases loaded and senior catcher Jeremiah Gress followed with a double to left field.

The Firebirds hiked their lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the second when junior center fielder David Allen crushed a home run to left-center field with the wind blowing out.

“We played pretty crappy after that,” Allen said. “We hit too many groundballs.”

Free State produced just one hit after Allen’s blast, a single by Gress in the bottom of the fourth inning.

O-East pitcher John Houston, aided by flawless defense, retired the final 10 Firebirds he faced to improve to 2-2.

The Hawks (8-4, 4-3) outhit the Firebirds, 10-6, including two home runs and three doubles.

“This was a great day to hit the ball,” Hill said. “The ball’s going to jump out of here. We don’t hit the ball on the line. We hit easy groundballs. We get 3-1 counts and instead of driving something we get something off the top of the bat.”

O-East, which opened the season with four wins in a row, took the lead for good in the top of the third when catcher Brett Miller launched a three-run home run to left field off freshmen Jake Hoover (0-3).

The Hawks thrived defensively with a barrage of back-handed stabs, dives and catches in the outfield gaps

“They were awesome on defense, as solid as I’ve ever seen them,” first-year O-East coach Mike Zegunis said of his squad. “They raised it to another level tonight. We figure if we can get 10 hits, we can generally win the game if we have pitching and defense.”

After Miller’s home run, Free State ace Eric Peterson relieved Hoover. Peterson, the winning pitcher in four of the Firebirds’ six victories, pitched 32*3 innings of shutout relief. He struck out six and walked two.

“Our pitching situation is certainly a big concern right now,” said Hill, who plans to start Peterson against Lawrence High at noon Saturday at FSHS. “We’ve got young kids trying to get better, but some of them aren’t ready for this.”

Before facing LHS, Free State will play host to Olathe South at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Olathe East 6, Free State 4

Olathe East (8-4) 204 000 0 Â 6 10 0

Free State (6-6) 310 000 0 Â 4 6 2

WP Â John Houston, 2-2. LP Â Jake Hoover, 0-3.

2B Â Olathe East: Aaron Smith; Ryan Chabon; Fred Jones; FSHS: David Allen; Jeremiah Gress. HR Â Olathe East: Nathan Warnock; Brett Miller. FSHS: Allen.

FSHS highlights  Allen, 2-for-4, 2B, HR, run, RBI; Gress, 2-for-3, 2B, RBI; Kyle Unruh, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs.