Lawrence High’s Albert Minnis, left, will oppose Free State’s Cody Kukuk in tonight’s city baseball showdown, weather permitting. Minnis, a senior, has signed with Wichita State. Kukuk, a junior, has orally committed to Kansas University, but both might go pro instead.

A coin flip Saturday kept alive the possibility of both the Lawrence High and Free State High baseball teams advancing to this year’s Class 6A state tournament.

Free State (16-4) enters the regional tourney on the heels of back-to-back victories over LHS. The first was a 7-5 victory Thursday at Kansas University’s Hoglund Ballpark and the next was a 6-5 win Friday at LHS.

Free State will be the No. 2 seed in this year’s Topeka regional and will host three games at FSHS, with the survivor of the four teams playing at Free State advancing to the state tourney May 28-29 at KU.

The Firebirds will face No. 7 Topeka High at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the opening round and, should they advance, would play the winner of the matchup between No. 3 seed Washburn Rural and No. 6 seed Leavenworth at 7 p.m. that night.

This week’s losses dropped LHS to 10-10 overall and into a tie with Washburn Rural for the No. 3 seed. Saturday morning, officials from both schools flipped a coin to break the tie, which Rural won, dropping LHS into the No. 4 slot.

The Lions will face No. 5 seed Olathe Northwest in the opening round at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Manhattan, and, should they win, would advance to take on the winner of the game between No. 1 Manhattan and No. 8 Junction City in the regional final at 7 that night.

LHS coach Brad Stoll and Free State coach Mike Hill often have talked often about the goal every year being to get both teams through to the state tournament. Never has that been more important to them than this year, when the state tourney is scheduled to be played at Hoglund Ballpark.

“This town is a great baseball town,” Stoll said. “And for both of us to make it to state and to play at KU would be special. That place would be rocking. But we’ve got some work to do before we get there and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”