Lenexa ? Free State starting pitcher Trevor Munsch proved on Thursday that he has the ability to pitch in the Big 12 conference next year, but unfortunately for the FSHS senior and the Firebirds, so did his counterpart.

Munsch and Shawnee Mission Northwest senior pitcher Jared Marolf — a Kansas State University commit — went back and forth putting up zeros, but the Cougars came through late with two runs in the sixth inning for a 2-0 victory.

“It’s awesome. I think it’s the best type of game, personally,” said Munsch, who has signed to pitch at the University of Oklahoma next spring, said. “We didn’t get the outcome that we wanted to, but I’ll get better from this. There were a lot of 0-2 pitches that I left down in the middle of the zone. They got the key hit when they needed to, and we didn’t.”

Munsch kept the Cougars (3-1) off of the board for the first five innings, but allowed a leadoff double to Javier Pena in the sixth. After Munsch struck out Dylan Nedved, Pena then moved to third on a wild pitch with Garrett Stephens at the plate. The wild pitch ended Munsch’s day, as FSHS coach Mike Hill called upon Aaron Funk out of the bullpen, but the Firebirds’ skipper said that he got all he could ask for from his starter.

“I think he had good run on his fastball. I think that was the key for him,” Hill said. “He was able to get contact, and not strong contact, so we were pleased with that. (He had) no walks, pretty good command. He did exactly what we needed him to do, just unfortunately, it wasn’t enough today.”

After Munsch exited, Stephens belted an RBI triple to score Pena, and then came into score on a wild pitch to account the game’s two runs.

“They were able to get the key hit in the sixth,” Hill said. “We had a guy in scoring position in a couple of innings, but we couldn’t get the key hit and that’s baseball — pitching, defense and timely hitting. We didn’t have timely hitting, and they did.”

The Firebirds (4-1) nearly broke through for the game’s first run in the top of the sixth. Mikey Corbett led off the frame by getting plunked by Marolf, and then moved to third after a sacrifice bunt from Kyle Abrahamson and groundout by Zion Bowlin. Corbett was stranded at third, though, after Hunter Gudde hit a come-backer to Marolf to close the inning.

Marolf held the Firebirds to two hits over six innings, and struck out five. Munsch nearly matched Marolf by limiting the Cougars to three hits over 5.1 innings, and punching out four.

While Munsch was hoping for a repeat of the 2015 Class 6A state championship game, in which the Firebirds defeated the Cougars, he still feels confident about his team’s chances to make a run at another title.

“This year, we’re going to do the same thing as last year. We’re going to try to win a state title outright,” Munsch said. “We have the pitching. We have all of the keys. We just have to put it together.”

Hill echoed Munsch’s sentiments after the Firebirds’ setback in their Sunflower League opener.

“We’ve got to get better in all facets, and every coach in America is going to say that this early in the season. The key for us is that we’re going to have to find a way when we face good pitchers like we did today to scratch across a couple,” Hill said. “We feel like our pitching staff and eventually our defense are going to play at a high level just like they typically do, but we’ve got to minimize strikeouts and put the ball in play. I feel like we’ll get there.”

Free State will travel to Olathe North at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Free State 000 000 0 — 0 2 1

SM Northwest 000 002 x — 2 6 0

W — Jared Marolf. L — Trevor Munsch (1-1). S — Dylan Dirks.

2B — Javier Pena, Joe Todd, SMNW. 3B — Garrett Stephens, SMNW.

FSHS highlights — Munsch, 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K; Kyle Abrahamson, 1-for-2; Jacob Pavlyak, 1-for-3.