I’m a sucker for nostalgia. Always have been.

I don’t know if it comes from my baseball-card-collecting background as a child or from the fact that I’ve always had an optimistic outlook on just about everything involving athletics.

But I’m good with it. Sure, in recent years, I’ve been forced to part with boxes full of “junk” that I thought might someday be worth having, but that didn’t make me regret saving it. You never know, right?

With that in mind, I watched the Free State High baseball game against Blue Valley North last Friday with a nostalgic eye. The game, won by Free State, 3-0, was the first game played on the new turf field at FSHS.

The turf, in case you haven’t seen it, looks amazing. It’s bright, clean, crisp and new. It’s as much a pleasure to watch a game on it as it is to play on it, I’m sure, and its part in making Free State (and someday soon Lawrence High, as well) home to one of the most impressive high school sports facilities in the state — if not the entire Midwest — is clear.

Many years from now, someone, somewhere will watch a game on the turf and wonder, which player got the first base hit on the surface or which pitcher picked up the first win.

So, in hopes that that person, whoever it may be, won’t have to wonder too long, I’ve compiled a list of all the “firsts” I could think of from that soon-to-be historic opening game. Hopefully, a quick Google search (or whatever form of fact-finding technology we’ve turned to at that point in time) will deliver this list to the fellow fan of nostalgia.

First base hit: Free State High sophomore Cody Kukuk, infield single in the bottom of the first inning.

First out: Blue Valley North junior Grant Adams flies out to Free State left fielder Nick Hassig in the top of the first inning.

First strikeout: Blue Valley North junior Sean McHugh strikes out looking against Free State High junior Ryan Scott.

First extra-base hit: Free State High senior Tyler Hatesohl doubles with two outs in the bottom of the second inning.

First run scored: Free State High junior Connor Stremel slides head-first across home plate in the bottom of the fifth inning after sophomore Cody Kukuk grounded into a fielder’s choice to second base.

First RBI: This honor goes to FSHS sophomore Cody Kukuk, as well, as he plated junior Connor Stremel with a ground ball to second base in the bottom of the fifth inning.

First ball hit over the fence: Free State High senior designated hitter Michael Lisher rips a ball to left field that takes one hop and bounces over the left-field fence. Although it wasn’t a home run (none were hit in the opening game) it did travel over the fence and it also goes down as the first ground-rule double in turf history.

First error: Unfortunately, this one goes to the home team, too, as junior third baseman Cory Delg mishandled a hot shot to third off the bat of BVN junior Grant Adams in the top of the third. Eventually, Adams was caught stealing, making the error harmless and Delg played a whale of a game

First walk: Free State junior Nick Hassign was given the free pass by BVN junior Derek Fogel as the second batter in the bottom of the third inning. Hassig eventually reached third base but was stranded there at the end of the inning.

First stolen base: In the top of the fifth, BVN junior Jimmy Gentry singles and then successfully swipes second base with Ryan Scott on the mound and Adam Petz behind the plate. In a game with just 10 total base hits, this provided an opportunity to see what a slide on the new turf looks like. On this surface, base runners are taught to start their slides earlier since the turf allows them to slide farther. In addition, nearly every slide is branded by a spray of rubber pelets from the 120 tons of rubber that sit beneath the field.

First winning pitcher: Free State junior Ryan Scott throws 49 pitches in five innings of work, strikes out five, allows just two hits, no runs and one walk in earning the victory.

First losing pitcher: Blue Valley North senior Mike Britton works just one inning (the fifth) and gives up three runs on three hits and one walk to take the loss.

First save: After spending the first five innings as the Firebirds’ first baseman, sophomore Cody Kukuk pitched the sixth and seventh inning and got the save. The southpaw struck out three Mustangs and gave up just one hit and two walks in two innings of work.

First game-clinching put out: With the bases loaded and the Firebirds clinging to a 3-0 lead in the top of the seventh, sophomore hurler Cody Kukuk coerced BVN senior Michael Jerwick to fly out to FSHS junior Connor Stremel in right field.