Free State tops unbeaten Olathe East, bounces back after loss

Free State turned a painful Saturday loss into one of the biggest wins of its season, beating previously unbeaten and top-ranked Olathe East 7-4 at the College Boulevard Activity Center in Olathe and giving Lawrence a fresh reason to believe in the Firebirds’ ceiling.

The No. 4-ranked Firebirds improved to 11-3 overall and 6-1 in Sunflower League play with the road victory on Monday, April 20, 2026, just two days after a stunning 4-3 defeat to Pembroke Hill. Starting pitcher Nathan Young called it a “mental toughness day,” and the game fit that description from the start. Free State did not just need to recover emotionally, it needed to prove a loss would not knock it off course against the state’s top-ranked team.

It answered immediately. Ryker Mahnke was hit by the second pitch of the game, Ben Graves singled to right and Owen Lester drove a double off the center-field wall to bring both runners home. That early burst set the tone for a Free State lineup that finished with seven hits, with several coming in scoring situations. Head coach Mike Hill said “timely hitting is everything,” and the Firebirds showed exactly that against Olathe East starter Brett Liezert before the Eagles finally chased him in the fifth inning.

The result carried added weight because Olathe East entered at 15-0 and later showed up in Kansas State High School Activities Association standings at 15-1. Free State, meanwhile, has been stacking elite wins for more than a week. Young threw a no-hitter against Shawnee Mission North on Tuesday, April 7, then followed that with a complete-game shutout at Olathe South on March 31. Free State also beat No. 2-ranked Mill Valley 9-2 on Thursday, April 16, giving the Firebirds multiple wins over highly ranked opponents in the same month.

That matters now because postseason positioning is tightening. KSHSAA regional seeding is set for May 16, with the top 16 teams in each region advancing to bracket play and higher seeds hosting one-day regional contests from May 18-21. The Kansas 6A state tournament is scheduled for May 27-29 at Eck Stadium in Wichita. For a Free State team that has already answered one loss with a marquee road win, the path ahead looks a lot more like a contender’s schedule than a team still searching for itself.