FREE STATE HIGH'S ADAM ROCK high-fives teammates in the Firebirds' dugout after scoring a run against Blue Valley Northwest. Free State won Friday's ballgame, 6-3, at Free State.

For the offense of the Free State High baseball team, two outs didn’t lead anywhere close to the end of the inning.

The Firebirds produced all six of their runs in two-out situations Friday. Free State’s effective hitting in pressure situations was enough to hold off Blue Valley Northwest, 6-3, on the Firebirds’ home field.

“It showed that our team has a lot of composure, and we know there’s still one more out when there’s two outs,” senior Ben Wilson said. “We don’t just get ready to go play defense.”

It took the Firebirds until the fifth inning to warm up the bats. With runners on the corners and two outs, junior Jordan Dreiling smoked a Bryan Hill offering over the center fielder’s head. As the baseball trickled toward the wall, Dreiling sprinted around second base without even looking to the outfield. He knew he had a stand-up triple. Two runs scored, cutting the BV Northwest lead to 3-2.

“It was a fastball, and he kind of left it up,” Dreiling said about Hill’s pitch. “I just got my barrel out there and let it soar. I was thinking triple the whole way out of the box.”

Dreiling had more hits than anyone Friday, finishing the day 3-for-4 with two RBIs. He was a home run short of the cycle.

BV Northwest (0-1) made a pitching change and let southpaw Brett Pener take the mound after Dreiling’s triple. Pener walked two straight batters to load the bases for Wilson.

Wilson smacked a ground-ball single past the Huskies infield. His only hit of the day – plating two runs – gave Free State a 4-3 lead.

“I was just trying to hit a hard line drive or hit a ground ball where the defense wasn’t,” Wilson said of the bases-loaded, two-out situation. “I wasn’t really thinking about hitting a home run in that situation. I was trying to concentrate on getting the ball in play and giving our team a chance to get a run in.”

Juniors Alex Hardman and E.J. Swanson pitched a shutout inning apiece to seal the victory. Hardman earned the victory, while Swanson earned the save.

Junior Caleb Gress pitched four innings and received a no-decision for Free State (2-0). Gress didn’t pitch poorly and had a positive strikeout-to-walk ratio (6-1). He gave up five hits – four in one inning – and three earned runs.

The solid start is positive news for Free State, which returned only two innings of pitching experience from last season’s Class 6A state championship team.

Free State fans might want to keep a particularly close eye on Swanson, who looked like he was developing into the closer’s role Friday. The Firebirds turned to former closer Scott Heitshusen in late-inning situations during last season’s title run.

“In high school baseball, if you can go get a guy for the sixth and seventh inning like Scott Heitshusen did for us a year ago, that’s a luxury most people don’t have,” Free State coach Mike Hill said. “E.J.’s not ready to be at that level yet, but certainly we see him as working toward that, and he did a nice job of taking a step in the right direction today.”

Swanson generated two groundouts and a flyout in his one inning of work. It’s evident his teammates already have confidence in him.

“He’s probably our best pitcher,” Wilson said. “It felt good to have a lead with someone like E.J. on the mound.”