The Firbirds third baseman Cory Delg (15) gets ready to field a ground ball and step on the base for a force out against Olathe Northwest on Tuesday April 27, 2010 at Free State.

Want to learn a thing or two about the way Free State High’s baseball team operates?

Try spending five minutes with two of its stars after arguably the biggest victory of the season, a 1-0 masterpiece against visiting Olathe Northwest on Tuesday.

Less than an hour after throwing the first meaningful innings of a senior season derailed by injury, starting pitcher Ryan Scott talked about how great the Free State pitching staff is. The funny part? Scott, who pitched four innings and gave up one hit Tuesday, didn’t feel the need to mention himself. So FSHS coach Mike Hill did it for him.

“He means a lot to our team, and he was exceptional today,” Hill said of Scott, who was an all-state selection in 2009. “It’s so important for us, from a confidence standpoint, to see Ryan back out there. Getting four innings out of him was a bonus. He had complete command of the game.”

And then there was junior first baseman Cody Kukuk, who provided the only run of the day with a solo home run in the fourth, his seventh of the season. He, too, preferred to talk about his teammates, brushing off his home run as a small piece of the victory.

“When you’re playing two, three games a week, you gotta have a lot of arms,” Kukuk said. “I’m really happy Ryan’s back. He looked as good as ever.”

So did Kukuk, who had the green light on a 3-0 pitch and parked it over the center-field fence, 400 feet from home plate, with an effortless swing. Though he didn’t divulge how many times this season he had been in that situation, Kukuk did say that he had yet to receive the red light during an at-bat this season. Hill said he could not remember if a Firebird had gone an entire season with permission to swing away, but he also pointed out that the red light does exist.

“Oh, there is one,” Hill said. “And it will be given to (Kukuk) when we’re in applicable situations. This wasn’t one of them.”

The home run kept Kukuk’s batting average in the high .400’s for the season and was his 26th RBI.

“It felt as good as all the others when I hit it,” Kukuk said. “But even better after the game because it turned out to be the winning run.”

That was thanks in large part to junior Colin Toalson, who took over for Scott and pitched the final three innings, striking out four and giving up three hits.

If it were possible to hand out two pitching wins in a single game, Scott and Toalson each would have earned one Tuesday. As it stood, Toalson got the win after battling in and out of trouble during the final three innings.

In the fifth, Olathe Northwest had runners at first and second, but Toalson fanned two to get out of the inning. In the sixth, a leadoff single from Austin Fisher turned into a runner at third with one out after a Fisher stolen base and ensuing throwing error by FSHS catcher Adam Petz.

But Toalson coerced two groundball outs to get out of the jam and preserve Free State’s one-run lead. Then, in the seventh, after striking out the leadoff batter and walking the next, he got Northwest’s Zach Carpenter to bounce into a double play to end the game.

“Our pitching certainly was outstanding today,” Hill said. “After Ryan came out, Toaly came in and did what we’ve come to expect him to do.”

Scott’s revival and the expected return of senior hurler Hayden Emerson sets up the Firebirds (11-2 overall and 5-1 in the Sunflower League) well for the final stretch of the season.

“Frankly, what we’ve done without those two guys is a testament to what all of our kids have done all year,” Hill said.

Free State will play Thursday at Shawnee Mission West.