Free State senior Jacob Pavlyak (7) drills a single against Shawnee Mission Northwest on Friday at FSHS.

For the past few seasons, Free State’s baseball team dominated with its pitching and just hoped to scratch across a few runs.

Now the offense is leading the way.

The Firebirds showcased their confidence in the batter’s box Friday in a 5-2 victory over Shawnee Mission Northwest at FSHS.

Facing SM Northwest senior pitcher Joe Todd for the second time in a week, the Firebirds (3-1) took advantage of a pair of walks in the second inning with back-to-back RBI singles from seniors Dale Miller and Jaden Moore.

Free State senior Nate Strathman added an RBI single in the third inning, scoring senior Zion Bowlin.

“We can swing the bat a lot better than we have probably, honestly, in the last five, six years,” FSHS coach Mike Hill said. “We’ve got some potential offensively. That was quality pitching that we saw.”

Free State senior Jacob Pavlyak (7) scores a run in the fifth inning against Shawnee Mission Northwest on Friday night at FSHS.

In the fifth inning, FSHS senior Jacob Pavlyak, a four-year starter, started the frame with an infield single. He advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Daniel Bryant and scored on an error.

Pavlyak, who went 3-for-4 at the plate, hit an RBI single in the sixth inning, scoring pinch-runner Jarod Bennett.

“We have 14 or 15 seniors. We’ve all seen it,” Miller said. “We’ve all experienced it. It helps a whole lot.”

The Firebirds trailed, 1-0, after the first inning when SM Northwest senior Javier Pena drilled a triple to the right-field fence and scored on a wild pitch that ricochet from the plate to over the backstop.

Following Pena’s run, Free State starting pitcher Aaron Funk walked the bases loaded, but escaped the first-inning jam with a fly out. In his next two innings, the hard-throwing Arkansas-Little Rock commit only allowed one base runner with two strikeouts.

The left-handed Miller replaced Funk in the fourth inning and escaped his own jam in the sixth. The Cougars (1-2) scored one run off of three singles, and had runners on the corners with one out. But Miller induced a ground ball back to himself and fired the ball to shortstop Matt Hill to start an inning-ending double play.

“Dale was terrific,” Mike Hill said. “Multiple pitches for strikes. Really able to mix it up in a manner that doesn’t let people get comfortable and lets his defense work. That’s the key for him and for us.

“I thought we did a lot of good things today and took a step forward.”

Free State pitcher Dale Miller (14) winds up in his delivery against Shawnee Mission Northwest on Friday at FSHS.

After suffering a 4-3 loss to SM Northwest last week, the Firebirds were happy to see their improvements. They played strong defense and capitalized at the plate.

Plus, it was an opportunity to start the league slate with a win.

“Like coach (Hill) talked about, we’ve still got a lot to work on, a lot to fix and a lot to improve on,” Pavlyak said. “That’s good news, honestly, because if we can do this and we still have that much to improve on, this is exciting to see what we can do.”

SM Northwest 100 001 0 — 2 5 2

Free State 021 011 x — 5 8 1

W — Aaron Funk, 2-1. L — Joe Todd.

3B — Javier Pena, SMNW.

FSHS highlights — Jacob Pavlyak, 3-for-4, run, RBI; Daniel Bryant, 2-for-4; Nate Strathman, 1-for-2, walk, run, RBI; Dale Miller, 1-for-3, RBI, 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K; Jaden Moore, 1-for-3, RBI; Funk, 3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 2 K.