When the Free State High baseball team takes the field for its Class 6A state tournament-opener, Firebirds ace Cody Kukuk will likely be on the mound.

That’s the plan for the moment, anyway.

Free State coach Mike Hill and his staff have spent a good deal of time this week attempting to discern how to best utilize their pitching staff on the eve of this weekend’s tournament, which begins Friday at Kansas University’s Hoglund Ballpark.

“There’s two schools of thought,” said Hill, whose fourth-seeded Firebirds open tournament play against fifth-seeded Wichita Northwest at 6:30 p.m. Friday. “One is that you hold your top guy and hope you get into the second round, the other is that you give yourself the best chance to win in the opener. There are pros and cons to both.”

As of now, Hill expects to throw Kukuk, who in addition to possessing a team-best 8-0 record and 1.01 earned-run average, leads the Firebirds in innings pitched (48 1/3) and strikeouts (76).

If the Firebirds advance past the first round, where they would likely face top-seeded Maize (20-2) in the semifinals, they would have their choice from among a group that includes Colin Toalson (7-1, five saves, 1.39 ERA), JD Prochaska, Rob Wagner, Ryan Scott and Hayden Emerson.

Free State has had success using both strategies.

In 2006, for instance, when they went on to win a state title, they held then-top pitcher Travis Blankenship — now at Kansas University — until the semifinals, and in ’04 did the opposite en route to a state title game appearance.

“There’s different ways to do it,” Hill said. “But what we’ll probably do is use Cody in the first one and have Colin (Toalson) close if we have to, and then based on the next opponent, make an evaluation for that game.”