Kennedy Baseball

Terrell Sykes is Kennedy's little big man

Terrell Sykes never listened when anyone said he was too small to play baseball.

He didn't listen when he was 4-foot-4, and he doesn't listen now that he's 5-foot-4 and one of the best players for one of the best high school teams in the state.

Sykes is an all-star second baseman for Kennedy High School and one of the reasons the Cougars have a chance to win their second straight Class 4A state title this week.

He's hitting .443 in the leadoff spot for the sixth-ranked Cougars, who will play Fort Dodge in the quarterfinals of the state tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Sykes just smiled when anyone said he was too small. He smiled, then proved them wrong.

"I just went out there and did my thing," he said.

And how tall is he?

"Five-five, I'd say," he replied, smiling. "I'm 5-4 without shoes, 5-5 with shoes."

Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer has been watching Sykes since he was 9 or 10 years old and playing for the Junior Cougars. Sykes was probably 4-foot nothing at the time.

Hoyer has been impressed with his little big man for a long time.

"You just had to watch him," Hoyer said. "Watch him move, watch how his hands work, watch how his arm works, watch his footwork. We knew this kid had a chance to be pretty good if he'd stick with it."

Sykes is a stocky guy and doesn't look like an all-star when he walks out of the dugout. Then all he does is beat you, with his glove and his bat and his head.

"For his size, he's got surprising hand strength, he's got surprising quickness," Hoyer said. "Proportionately, he doesn't strike you as a guy who would be very quick, but he is.

"His hands are as good as any middle infielder we've ever had here, and he's got the arm strength to go with it. He's got tremendous anticipation. And then he's just so explosive. He's one of the best second basemen we've ever had."

Kennedy senior Colin Taylor has played with Sykes most of their lives, starting with Junior Cougars and all the way through high school. He remembers a young kid with long corn-rows, braids and beads in his hair - and a kid who could play the game.

"He's been so good," Taylor said. "He's always worked really hard. I've enjoyed watching him play."

Sykes has short-cropped hair now. "The sixth grade is when I cut it all off," he said. "I had it almost to the middle of my back, I think. I had long corn-rows and an Afro."

Sykes cracked Kennedy's starting lineup as a sophomore and has been a mainstay ever since. He's earned the respect of everyone who's ever seen him play.

He helped Kennedy with the 4A title last year and has made every all-star team that's been announced so far ths year. He's been named first team all-Metro, first team all-Mississippi Valley Conference and first team all-district in 4A.

"Now my senior year, I'm actually going out with a bang and getting some nominations and awards," he said modestly. "It feels pretty good."

Sykes has a scholarship to play at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, where he'll be joined by Kennedy teammates Griffin Michael and David Yancey.

Hoyer moved Sykes into the leadoff spot last year as a junior, about midway through the season. At first, Sykes didn't like it. He preferred hitting further down in the lineup.

"Now doing it I'm completely fine," he said. "I'm ready to start the game, and I'm ready to get on base and score the first run."

Sykes helped ignite Kennedy's offense when he moved into the No.1 spot last year. He's not a typical leadoff hitter who takes pitches, works the count and tries to draw a walk. He comes up swinging with full force.

"I don't know if I should be saying this, but people don't throw off-speed pitches right away," he imparted. "I'm ready to swing. I come up there ready.

"The first pitch of the game is usually a strike, so I want to swing at that first pitch and get a good pitch to hit. Try to hack at it and get on base."

Sykes was not revealing any secrets. He's been an aggressive hitter his entire career and opponents know it, but they haven't found a way to stop him.

Hoyer called Sykes a spark-plug.

"He wants to send a message," Hoyer remarked. "If you're going to lay it in there, we're going to have at it and we're going to try to do some damage with it, and we want to keep that up all game. That's what I like about him.

"I want an aggressive hitter who's looking for a pitch to drive right away. And that's what he does."

Sykes will be Kennedy's first batter when the Cougars face Fort Dodge Wednesday. The Cougars returned seven starters this season and naturally are thinking about back-to-back state titles.

"We have that in our minds, going for the repeat, but we're starting all over," Sykes said. "We're trying to do the same thing, with the same approach."

It starts with the little man with the big bat and slick glove.

Cougars maul Hempstead; back to state

Cody Bell blasted a pair of home runs, including one in Kennedy's nine-run second inning Wednesday night that fueled the Cougars' 15-3 romp past Dubuque Hempstead in the Class 4A substate baseball tournament at Kennedy.

The Cougars had five home runs -- three in the second inning -- among their 18 hits.

But it was the lead-off home run in the seventh inning that carried the most clout.

Senior Austin Christensen, in his last at-bat at Kennedy, swatted his 19th home run of the season and 42nd of his career. The latter tied him with his older brother Chad for the most career home runs by a Metro player.

"It's a good way to go out, I guess," said Christensen, who will join his brother Chad at the University of Nebraska in the fall. Chad Christensen, a standout player at Cedar Rapids Washington, will be a junior at Nebraska. "(The record) is always in the back of your mind, but I just wanted to put a good swing on it, just hit one square. The at-bats before, I wasn't hitting it square."

He didn't really catch this one square, either, but the sweet-swinging lefty had enough to push it over the right-field fence.

"(Christensen) had a pretty big grin on his face when he rounded third, I didn't know that was the one to tie his brother," Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer said. "Maybe that's why he was grinning, because he really didn't hit it that well."

Christensen said he and his brother have talked quite a bit about Austin becoming the Metro's career home run leader.

"(Chad) wanted me to break it this year," Christensen said. "We'll see. There's some pretty big fences at Principal Park. But to be tied with him is pretty cool, too."

Kennedy (31-8) advances to next week's state tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines, where Christensen will get the chance to move past his brother. The defending state champion Cougars are seeded second in the tournament and play seventh seed Fort Dodge (29-12) in the first round July 27 at 6 p.m. The Dodgers swept a doubleheader from the Cougars on June 11 at Fort Dodge.

"We're 27-3 in substate games the past 11 years," said Hoyer, who is guiding his 10th team to the state tournament in his 19 years at Kennedy. "These kids buy into that tradition and just play."

Christensen, the Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year, will be back on the pitchers mound against Fort Dodge after running his record to 8-0 this year with his 29th career win against Hempstead. He scattered seven hits over five innings and struck out six. Griffin Michael and David Yancey pitched an inning apiece in relief.

Christensen said he wasn't as sharp as he would have liked against Hempstead. The Mustangs tallied twice in the bottom of the first to take a 2-0 lead.

"I pitched against them earlier in the year and they did the exact same thing to me," Christensen said. "They jumped on fastballs. I tried to locate it tonight, but I was just leaving it a little too far over the plate, especially that first inning."

That first inning was the Mustangs' last hurrah.

Kennedy 13 men to the plate in the top of the second inning. The first nine batters all reached -- eight via hits -- and all nine scored. Yancey's two-run home run tied the game, 2-2, and Bell followed with a home run that put the Cougars ahead for good. Austin Benson had an RBI double, Terrell Sykes a two-run single, Christensen an RBI single and Michael belted a two-run home run.

"We got some pitches we could handle and we hit them pretty hard," said Bell, whose two-run single in the fourth inning pushed the Cougars' lead to 11-3. "We knew they were going to hit the ball. We knew we had to score runs to win."

The barrage stunned Hempstead Coach Jeff Rapp, who stayed as long as he could with southpaw starter Aaron Collins (4-4). Collins set down the Cougars in order in the first inning, but was lifted without retiring a batter in the second inning, when he faced nine batters.

"It happened so fast," Rapp said. "I certainly wanted to keep Collins out there. I didn't want to pull the trigger that early, but I just had to. I don't think it was anything he did.

"We talked to our catcher (Chad Crabill) and he said they weren't that bad of pitches. They just put good wood on the ball."

And they kept putting wood on the ball. Benson, who had three hits, had an RBI single in the sixth inning that made it 12-3. Christensen homered leading off the seventh and Bell capped the scoring with a two-run home run in the seventh.

Yancey also had three hits. The only member of the starting lineup not to get a hit was Josh Jahlas. Everybody in the starting lineup scored at least one run.

"They were dialed in pretty good. They were seeing the ball pretty well tonight," Hoyer said of his club. "Hopefully, it will continue."

Hoyer said he doesn't believe Kennedy, as defending champs, will be wearing a bull's-eye on its back at the state tournament.

"I think during the regular season that's very true," he said. "But, not the tournament. Everybody's trying to play hard and win and advance. I don't think it puts any extra pressure on us whatsoever. We're out there trying to beat them just as badly as they're trying to beat us."

KENNEDY (15)
Terrell Sykes, 2b, 5 1 2 2, Austin Christensen, p-rf, 5 1 2 2, Matt Maiers, cr, 0 1 0 0, Griffin Michael, ss-p, 5 2 2 2, Devon Jacobus, 3b-ss, 4 1 2 0, Jud Rhoades, pr, 0 1 0 0, David Yancey, lf-p, 5 2 3 2, Aadam Lloyd, pr-lf, 0 1 0 0, Cody Bell, 1b-3b, 5 2 3 5, Logan Ambrosy, rf-1b-lf, 5 1 1 0, Josh Jahlas, cf, 2 1 0 0, Colin Taylor, ph, 0 0 0 0, Austin Benson, dh, 4 1 3 2, Jimmy Lizarraga, c, 0 0 0 0. Totals 40 15 18 15.

HEMPSTEAD (3)
Sean Fitzgerald, ss, 4 1 1 0, Kyle Weist, 3b, 3 0 2 0, Nate Cooksley, ph, 1 0 0 0, Adam Kennedy, rf, 3 1 0 0, Cody Leach, 1b, 3 0 2 1, Andrew Seymour, pr, 0 0 0 0, Brad Duwe, cf, 3 1 2 2, Chad Crabill, c, 3 0 1 0, Pete Keleher, cr, 0 0 0 0, Jake Bortscheller, dh, 3 0 1 0, Nick Stevenson, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Nick Johnson, lf, 3 0 0 0, Aaron Collins, p-ph, 1 0 0 0, Nick Barker, p, 2 0 0 0. Totals 29 3 9 3.

Kennedy     090 201 3 -  15  18  0
Hempstead  201 000 0 -   3   9   3

Christensen, Michael (6), Yancey (7) and Lizarraga. Collins, Barker (2) and Crabill. W - Christensen (8-0). L - Collins (4-4). 2B - Jacobus, Yancey, Benson, Weist. HR - Christensen (19), Michael (4), Yancey (8), Bell 2 (5). SB - Michael (9), Yancey (12).

No denying Michael this time

Ten days ago, Kennedy's Griffin Michael hit a ball into the right-center field gap that had extra-bases and a tie ballgame against Jefferson written all over it. Instead, J-Hawks right fielder Jake Schmidt flagged it down and Jefferson beat the Cougars.

There was no tracking down Michael's drives Friday.

Michael doubled, tripled and drove in two runs, and Devon Jacobus hit a home run and drove in three to power Kennedy past Jefferson, 7-3, in a Class 4A substate tournament baseball game played before a crowd estimated at 500 people at Kennedy.

Defending state champion Kennedy (30-8) is the top-seeded team in Region 3 and, thus, receives a bye into Wednesday's substate final that also will be played at Kennedy. The Cougars' opponent will be either Xavier or Dubuque Hempstead, who play each other Monday at Xavier. Second-seeded Xavier beat Dubuque Senior, 5-1, and No. 3 seed Hempstead ousted Western Dubuque, 4-2, Friday night.

Michael had three of Kennedy's 11 hits and two of the Cougars' seven extra-base hits.

"I got a few to drop, but we were hitting the ball well today," said Michael, who was a teammate of four J-Hawks on a 13U national championship team a few years back. That and the loss to Jefferson had Michael looking to reclaim bragging rights. "We definitely wanted some redemption after that loss. We felt that was our game and we gave it away."

Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer said the Law of Averages finally worked in Michael's favor.

"He's had a lot of balls this year that he's hit right at people," Hoyer said. "He's hit the ball a lot better than what his average has shown. What happened (in the previous Jeff game) is what's happened to him all year."

Kennedy southpaw Austin Christensen, who beat the J-Hawks (14-24) in the season-opening Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament, made sure there was no giving away this game. He pitched six innings of one-hit ball and struck out 10. Christensen, the Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year, also was 2-for-2 at the plate with an RBI double.

"He was the best pitcher we faced Game 1 and he was the best pitcher we faced in Game 38," Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said of Christensen. "I don't think there was anybody that we faced in between that was any better. He did a good job of keeping us off-balance early and he did a good job of not letting us get back into the game when we needed to get back into the game."

Christensen faced only two batters over the minimum.

"Obviously, it was in the back of our minds that they beat us the last time," Christensen said. "We knew they were coming in with nothing to lose and they were going to go all out, that they had a chance of beating us. We just tried to focus on the small things and go out and play a good game."

Kuba said before the game that the key to beating Kennedy was shutting the Cougars down the first three innings. The J-Hawks cut down two Cougars at the plate in the second inning, but weren't as fortunate in the third, when Kennedy struck for four runs.

Christensen helped his own cause with a one-out RBI double. Michael followed with an RBI triple and Jacobus then hit a moon shot over the left-field fence for a two-run home run and a 4-0 lead.

"That was huge following up (the second inning)," Hoyer said. The Cougars had runners at second and third with no outs in that inning, but failed to score when the two runners were cut down at the plate. "That gives you some momentum, and there was a lot of tension in the air."

The outburst came against Jefferson right-hander Bailey Hollingsworth, who was the winning pitcher 10 days earlier against the Cougars.

"I grew up with and played with a lot of those guys, so it was nice to get the win," said Michael, who was a teammate of Jefferson's Hollingsworth, Michael Rooney, Jordan McCormick and Drake Vanous on a 13U team that won a national championship.

Michael's RBI single in the fifth made it 5-0. His double in the seventh moved Christensen, who had opened the inning with a single, to third base with no outs. Jacobus hit a sacrifice fly and David Yancey an RBI single.

Jefferson scratched across three runs in the bottom of the seventh off Yancey on two hits, a walk and an error.

"We were confident coming into the game, we just started executing a little too late," Kuba said.

KENNEDY (7)
Terrell Sykes, 2b, 4 1 1 0, Austin Christensen, p-rf, 2 1 2 1, Matt Maiers, cr, 0 1 0 0, Griffin Michael, ss, 4 2 3 2, Devon Jacobus, 3b, 3 1 1 3, David Yancey, lf-p, 3 0 1 1, Cody Bell, 1b, 4 0 2 0, Logan Ambrosy, rf, 2 0 0 0, Adam Lloyd, rf, 0 0 0 0, Colin Taylor, ph, 1 0 1 0, Alex Hayden, cr-rf-lf, 1 0 0 0, Josh Jahlas, cf, 3 0 0 0, Austin Benson, dh, 2 1 0 0, Jimmy Lizarraga, c, 0 0 0 0. Totals 29 7 11 7.

JEFFERSON (3)
Tanner Unkel, 2b, 3 0 0 0, Michael Rooney, cf-p, 3 0 0 0, Alex Larson, ss, 2 0 0 0, Jordan McCormick, 1b, 3 1 2 0, Bailey Hollingsworth, p-rf, 2 1 1 0, Drew Striegel, c, 2 0 0 0, Jake Schmidt, rf-lf, 3 1 0 1, Sam Techau, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Drake Vanous, pr, 0 0 0 0, Christian Knox, lf-cf, 3 0 0 0. Totals 24 3 3 1.

Kennedy   004 010 2 -  7 11  1
Jefferson   000 000 3 - 3  3   1

Christensen, Yancey (7) and Lizarraga. Hollingsworth, Rooney (5) and Striegel. W - Christensen. L - Hollingsworth. 2B - Sykes, Christensen, Michael, Bell 2. 3B - Michael. HR - Jacobus. SB - Michael, Hayden.

Cougars nip Solon, 5-4, in battle of state champs

The battle of state baseball champions turned into a battle of nerves Saturday night.

Kennedy exhaled last, happily.

Griffin Michael laced a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Cougars nipped Solon, 5-4, before approximately 500 fans at Kennedy Field.

Kennedy won the Class 4A state title last July and the Spartans captured the Class 2A crown, making this a rare matchup of defending champions. Both teams are loaded again, giving special intrigue to the budding rivalry.

Both teams enjoyed strong fan support, filling the bleachers and straining the fences.

"It was great," said Michael, who belted a pitch to right-center with two runners on base to win the game. "It felt like substate play, it felt like state play."

Kennedy, ranked No.7 in Class 4A, raised its record to 29-8. Solon, ranked No.1 in Class 3A after climbing a class this year, fell to 31-4.

Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer said the teams plan a rematch at Solon on a Saturday night in July next year.

Saturday night's game had no impact on the seedings for this year's playoffs. It was strictly for bragging rights, good competition and sheer fun.

Both teams squandered chances to win the game in regulation, so it went two extra innings before the Cougars got the walk-off victory.

"Exactly what we wanted in order to get ready for substate," Hoyer said. "A little different feel in the air. A lot of people here, a lot of people cheering, loud. It was perfect."

It was exactly what Solon wanted as well, except for the unhappy ending.

"We saw a good team, and we knew Coach Hoyer's program would provide us with a valuable experience," Solon Coach Keith McSweeney remarked. "We go away from this feeling pretty good about the fact that we got better tonight."

David Yancey gave Kennedy a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the fourth inning. Kennedy ace Austin Christensen cruised through five innings, but an error, two singles and a hit-batter made it 2-1 in the sixth and Hoyer replaced Christensen with Yancey.

Yancey uncorked two wild pitches, giving Solon two gift runs as the Spartans grabbed a 3-2 lead. The Cougars took a 4-3 edge in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run single by Cody Bell, but Solon tied the game 4-4 in the seventh on a suicide squeeze.

Solon had runners at first and third with nobody out in the top of the seventh after tying the game, but Yancey struck out two batters and got Nick Day on a fly to left.

Kennedy loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh but failed to score, so all the fans got two extra innings of free baseball on a beautiful night.

Terrell Sykes led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk and hustled into second base on a short wild pitch. Christensen got an intentional walk, his second of the night, putting runners on first and second with nobody out.

Alex Hayden replaced Sykes as the runner at second base, and Hayden raced home with the winning run when Michael lined a 3-1 pitch to right center.

"I got a fastball on the inner half," Michael said. "I tried to stay inside the ball and got it over the second baseman's head."

Yancey pitched 3 2/3 innings in relief for the victory. Solon had planned to start Brandon Shulista on the mound, but Shulista has a sore right shoulder and is waiting for results of an MRI.

Ryan Butler pitched into the sixth inning for the Spartans before McSweeney made a change. Day came in from shortstop to pitch and allowed the two-run single by Bell.

Marshall Koehn pitched the ninth inning for Solon and was tagged with the loss.

Saturday's game featured three future Division I college baseball players with Christensen (Nebraska), Day (Iowa) and Derrick Loveless (Iowa). Christensen went 2-for-3, Day was 2-for-4 and Loveless was 1-for-3.

Solon began the game with a lusty team batting average of .402 with 144 extra-base hits, but the Spartans went 4-for-31 against Christensen and Yancey for a team batting average of .129 with four singles.

Christensen struck out eight batters with a sharp curveball, lively fastball and effective changeup. "We never really did solve Austin Christensen," McSweeney said. "He was lights out tonight."

Kennedy hosts No.6 Pleasant Valley in a doubleheader Tuesday before hosting Jefferson in a Class 4A substate opener on Friday night.

The Cougars think the atmosphere from Saturday's game will help them in the playoffs.

"The atmosphere was as good as we've played in front of," Christensen said. "Both teams brought a lot of fans. It was fun. It was a great game, and it really proved to be what everybody thought it would be."

SOLON (4)
Koehn, 2b/ss/p, 4 1 1 0, Day, ss/p, 4 1 2 0, Loveless, cf, 3 0 1 1, Smith, 1b, 4 0 0 0, Olson, dh, 4 0 0 0, Fitzpatrick, c, 0 0 0 0, Butler, p/ph/3b, 3 0 0 0, Shulista, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Holub, pr/2b, 0 1 0 0, Stebral, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Dall, rf, 3 0 0 1, Brimeyer, lf, 3 1 0 0. Totals 31 4 4 2.

KENNEDY (5)
Sykes, 2b, 4 0 2 0, Hayden, pr, 0 1 0 0, Christensen, p/rf, 3 1 2 0, Jahlas, cr, 0 1 0 0, Jacobus, 3b, 4 0 0 0, Michael, ss, 5 0 1 1, Yancey, lf/p, 3 2 1 2, Bell, 1b, 4 0 1 2, Jahlas, pr, 0 0 0 0, Ambrosy, rf/lf, 4 0 0 0, Maiers, dh, 2 0 0 0, Taylor, ph, 1 0 1 0, Lizarraga, c, 0 0 0 0, Benson, cf, 3 0 1 0. Totals 33 5 9 5.

Solon        000 003 100 - 4 4 1
Kennedy   000 202 001 - 5 9 4

Butler, Day (6), Koehn (9) and Fitzgerald. Christensen, Yancey (6) and Lizarraga. W - Yancey. L - Koehn. 2B - Benson. HR - Yancey.