Members of the Free State High baseball team hoist their Class 6A regional championship trophy after defeating Washburn Rural. The Firebirds won two games Friday at their home field to advance to the state tournament next week.

After a one-year hiatus, Free State High’s baseball team is headed back to state.

Friday at FSHS, the Firebirds knocked off Topeka High, 2-1, in the regional opener and dismissed Washburn Rural, 7-4, in the title game to advance to next week’s Class 6A state tournament for the sixth time in eight years.

“This is kind of the expectation of the kids,” FSHS coach Mike Hill said. “And that’s the thing I really appreciate about our program.”

Although the Firebirds put themselves into position to challenge for their second baseball state title in school history, it didn’t come easily.

In the opener, Free State scratched and clawed its way to two runs against Topeka High’s Ty Geary, the same pitcher who no-hit Lawrence High for six-plus innings in last year’s regional tournament, only to lose in the seventh. Friday, Geary again went the distance, surrendering just three hits and two runs while striking out eight Firebirds.

With Free State clinging to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth, an odd play pushed the lead to 2-0. With two outs and a runner on first — senior first baseman Michael Lisher had reached after being hit by a pitch — senior Ryan Scott’s blooper to left bounced over the head of the Topeka High left fielder, allowing Lisher — all 6-foot-3, 260 pounds of him — to race all the way around to score.

Said Hill of the unlikely scenario: “The difference tonight was Michael Lisher’s speed. Seriously, though, because he runs the bases well, we’re able to score in that situation, and we’re able to get a little breathing room.”

Said Lisher of the play: “Lucky. Last year I tried to score from first one time and was thrown out at the plate. Tonight, I was able to make it. One of the coaches told me in the dugout that that’s the difference between a junior and a senior.”

Two innings later, with Topeka High threatening to tie the game, Lisher flashed his defensive skills by snagging a liner to first base that would have tied the game had it gone over his head.

“We know that every game in the postseason is going to be like that,” Lisher said. “They always seem to be one- or two-run games where the little hops and stuff make the difference.”

Helping to make the difference Friday was the sensational performance of junior pitcher Colin Toalson. After picking up his fifth save of the season in the opener, Toalson took the mound in the third inning of Game 2 and didn’t leave until he had notched his seventh victory of the season.

“That’s what he does,” Hill said of Toalson. “He digs deep, he’s a fierce competitor, and we feel really comfortable with him on the mound.”

Asked which outing impressed him more, Toalson was quick to answer.

“My arm was a little more live in the first game, so, physically, I’d have to say the save was better,” he said.

On the night, Toalson pitched 4 2?3 innings, struck out seven and surrendered just one earned run. The at-bat that best demonstrated how effective he was came in the top of the seventh inning in Game 2, when Rural’s Luke Bordewick — who hit a solo home run off of Toalson in the sixth — stepped to the plate as the tying run. After giving up the dinger on a fastball, Toalson threw six curveballs to Bordewick in the seventh, including a nasty one on a 3-2 pitch that produced a strikeout.

“He hit the cover off of the fastball so we decided to go offspeed,” Toalson said. “I have confidence in my offspeed stuff.”

Other notable performances from the Firebirds included the start from junior Cody Kukuk, who turned in the kind of pitching line that’s awfully tough to beat in Game 1: 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 0 earned runs and 10 strikeouts. Tim Lewis, a hit machine of late, finished the night with three hits and four RBIs to help the Firebirds advance to state.

“This is a great feeling,” Toalson said. “We all have high hopes for next week, and hopefully we can get the job done.”