MAIZE ? If good pitching stops good hitting, then Maize hurler Eric Smith is really, really, really good.

Smith, a junior right-hander, held hot-hitting Free State to five singles and the Eagles plunked the Firebirds, 8-1, in a first-round game of the Class 6A state baseball tournament Friday afternoon.

“He hit spots and mixed his pitches,” said Ryne Price, Free State’s leading hitter. “He’s definitely among the top three we’ve faced, I’ll guarantee you that.”

Price, who went into the Firebirds’ first state appearance with a glossy .500 batting average and a .971 slugging percentage, didn’t get the ball out of the infield in three at-bats against Smith.

“He threw really well. He deserves credit,” Free State coach Mike Hill said. “What’s been our forte was not there today. Some of that was us, and some of that was him.”

Free State came to its first state tournament with an 18-3 record, a .351 team batting average and the Firebirds were averaging 9.5 runs per game.

“We’re a gap-hitting team,” Hill said. “We try to loft the ball, but the bottom line is we did not hit well.”

Of the Firebirds’ five singles, only one — a line drive to right-center by designated hitter Chris Coleman in the second inning — was hit hard.

“Any pitcher can get you on any day,” said Coleman, who struck out in his other two at-bats. “He hit his spots really well, and he painted the corner all day long.”

Free State’s lone run crossed in the fifth inning on an error, a dunk single by Jake Hoover and a seeing-eye ground single up the middle by Robbie Price. Smith ended the threat by enticing Matt Berner to ground to third.

“He was tough to hit,” Berner said of the Eagles’ hurler, “but I knew we’d face the best pitchers in Kansas coming here.”

Smith’s record was a so-so 6-3 coming in, but the won-lost number was deceptive because his earned run average was O.65.

Free State high's Tyler Blankenship, right, tags out Maize's Kaleb Reichmann at third base. The Eagles defeated the Firebirds, 8-1, Friday at Maize in the first round of the Class 6A state baseball tournament. Free State finished the 2003 season with a record of 18-4.

“He’s given up only three or four earned runs all season,” Maize coach Rocky Helm said, “and we feel confident if we can get two or three runs when he’s pitching. Eight was a bonus.”

Eight was also deceptive.

After six innings, Maize was nursing a 3-1 lead because Free State starter Matt Lane had matched Smith almost pitch for pitch. But Hill felt Lane was tiring in the 90-degree heat and brought Hoover in to pitch the seventh.

Hoover, who had stuffed Lawrence High 5-1 in the regional final, was roughed up for five singles. Toss in two errors and Maize had a five-run inning that turned this one into a no-doubter.

“I don’t feel the score did us justice,” Coleman said. “That wasn’t an 8-1 game. It just snowballed on us.”

Echoed Hill: “Things just got away from us. If they see the score and think we got hammered, they didn’t see the game I saw.”

Maize was making its fourth state trip in a row, and second straight on its home field.

“Did that have anything to do with it?” Hill said rhetorically. “Not as far as I can see.”

Maize's Clint Adams slides safely into home plate when Free State catcher Ryne Price is late with the tag. The Eagles claimed an 8-1 victory in the Class 6A state baseball tournament Friday in Maize.

Maize coach Helm, a former Kansas University outfielder and a former teammate of Hill’s on the old semi-pro Maupintour Travellers, thought the Firebirds might have been pressing, though.

“This being their first time, they may have been a little rattled,” Helm said.

Still, Maize faced the pressure of winning on its home field, and that’s not a factor to overlook, Helm said, after the Eagles bowed in the first round last year.

“I did some things differently this year,” Helm said. “I did a little reverse psychology trying to keep them loose, and that’s as loose as we’ve played all year.”

Free State finished the best baseball season in school history with an 18-4 record.

“We’re not going to let our season rest on this one game,” Berner said. “We had the best season ever at Free State.”

Maize (19-4) will meet Manhattan in a 10 a.m. semifinal today. Manhattan, the top seed, outlasted No. 8 seed Shawnee Mission West, 3-2, in 11 innings.

“Maize is a very good team,” Hill said. “They have an excellent shot to win it all.”

Maize 8, Free State 1

Maize 000 111 5 — 8 11 3

Free State 000 010 0 — 1 5 2

WP–Eric Smith, 7-3. LP–Matt Lane, 8-2.

2B–Brent Milleville, Maize.

Maize highlights: Catcher Milleville was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Second baseman Ty Stivers had three bunt singles. Left fielder Ty Stivers was 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Maize record: 19-4.

Free State highlights: Freshman second baseman Robbie Price had two of the five singles. The other hits were by Lane, Jake Hoover and Chris Coleman. Free State final record: 18-4.