Visiting baseball teams don't invade Kennedy Field and score 10 runs against the Cougars too often, but it happened Thursday night.

North Scott collected seven extra-base hits and belted the top-ranked team in the state, 10-6, in a non-conference game.

"I feel great. Our team played well," North Scott Coach Blake Hanna remarked. "But our goal isn't to beat the No.1 team. Our goal is to get that flag they have hanging on their wall right there. That's our goal."

Hanna was talking about the Class 4A state championship banner that's attached to the right-field fence at Kennedy Field in honor of the 2010 Class 4A state title. The Lancers want a flag like that of their own.

Kennedy (3-1) played its fourth game in four nights after winning the Bob Vrbicek Metro tournament, whereas North Scott (1-0) was playing its opener after getting rained out Tuesday. That meant the Cougars went with their No.4 starter (Cody Bell) while the Lancers had their No.1 guy (Matt McKinney) on the mound and their No.2 guy (Robert Copley) in relief.

"We're not going to make any excuses for losing," Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer remarked. "They ourplayed us, they deserved to win, we have to play better."

Bell pitched three shutout innings, but North Scott scored five runs in the fourth against him for a 5-3 lead. Dyllin Gorsh blasted a three-run homer and the Lancers sent 10 batters to the plate.

North Scott scored three more runs in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth for a 10-4 advantage. All told, the Lancers had 12 hits in the game, including six doubles and the three-run homer by Gorsh.

"I thought coming in we could swing it pretty good, but I didn't think we'd swing it that good," Hanna said. "I thought once the season got rolling along and we got our bats going we'd swing it good."

North Scott was supposed to play Dyersville Beckman on Tuesday, but got washed out. Meanwhile, Kennedy had a chance to get started in the Metro tournament and get the kinks out. That worried Hanna on the trip to Cedar Rapids.

"A little bit," he said. "But I also thought they played three games and maybe they were a little tired. I don't know if they were, but I knew we weren't going to face their ace in Christensen."

Austin Christensen, who pitched Kennedy's opener on Monday, will pitch Saturday against Burlington.

Christensen did a fair amount of damage himself Thursday night by going 2-for-3 with an RBI double and a towering two-run homer to right-center in the seventh inning. Christensen is hitting .667 in four games (8 for 12) with three doubles, two triples, one homer and seven RBIs.

Kennedy collected nine hits Thursday night and had a 3-0 lead after three innings. "I'm happy with my guys for scoring six runs off their top two pitchers," Hoyer said. "I'm really happy with that."

North Scott first baseman John Kinney went 4-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs. Gorsh finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs and right-fielder Colby Sorensen went 3-for-4 with three doubles and two RBIs.

NORTH SCOTT (10)
Brock Brade, 2b, 5 0 0 0, Devin Guerrero 4 1 2 0, Ben Engler 2 2 0 0, Aaron Huber, ss, 2 2 0 0, Dyllin Gorsh, dh, 4 2 3 4, Brandon Voss, c, 0 0 0 0, John Kinney, 1b, 4 2 4 3, J.D. Pumphrey, 3b, 3 1 0 0, Colby Sorensen, rf, 4 0 3 2, Matt McKinney, p, 4 0 0 0, Robert Copley, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 32 10 12 9.

KENNEDY (6)
Terrell Sykes, 2b, 3 2 1 0, David Yancey, lf, 4 1 1 0, Austin Christensen, 1b, 3 1 2 3, Griffin Michael, ss, 4 0 2 2, Devon Jacobus, 3b, 4 0 0 0, Josh Jahlas, cf, 4 0 1 0, Matt Maiers, c, 4 0 0 0, Jud Rhoades, cr, 0 0 0 0, Cody Bell, p, 3 0 1 0, Alex Hayden, cr, 0 1 0 0, Austin Benson, dh, 1 1 1 0, Logan Ambrosy, rf, 0 0 0 0, Colin Taylor, p, 1 0 0 0. Totals 31 6 9
5.

North Scott   000 532 0 - 10 12 3
Kennedy       102 010 2 -   6  9 3

McKinney, Copley (7) and Voss; Bell, Benson (4), Taylor (6) and Maiers. W - McKinney; L - Bell.
2B - Guerrero, Kinney 2, Sorensen 3, Christensen. HR - Gorsh, Christensen. SB - Brade, Sykes, Christensen, Michael.