Kennedy Baseball

Christensen ties Kennedy HR record

Austin Christensen tied the Cedar Rapids Kennedy record for career home runs Saturday and pitched a 1-hitter as the top-ranked Cougars spanked Burlington, 15-0, in four innings at Kennedy Field.

Christensen smacked the 25th homer of his career with a three-shot in the first inning, matching the school mark set by Tony Booth from 1987-90.

Christensen already holds the Kennedy career records for doubles (43) and RBIs (132).

"That's pretty incredible. I'm really happy about it," Christensen said. "There have been so many incredible players come through this school throughout the years, and to just have my name even in the same sentence with them is really nice."

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Cougars, J-Hawks and Saints in same substate

The Cedar Rapids Kennedy baseball team had to defeat Jefferson and Xavier this week to win the Metro Tournament, and the Cougars might have to beat them again to reach the Class 4A state tournament.

The IHSAA has assigned the Cougars, J-Hawks and Saints to Substate 3 for the postseason tournament, along with Dubuque Hempstead, Dubuque Senior and Western Dubuque. The substate champion will advance to the state baseball tournament in Des Moines.

The IHSAA has announced the groupings for each Class 4A substate, but the sites and pairings will be announced later. The games are scheduled for July 15, 18 and 20.

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North Scott deals Cougars rare home loss

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.

No. 1 Cougars claim Metro title again

Cedar Rapids Kennedy ended the 2010 baseball season by winning a state title and now the Cougars have begun the 2011 campaign by claiming the Metro crown.

They haven't missed a beat.

Kennedy won the Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament for the 11th time Wednesday night by topping Xavier, 8-3, in the championship game at chilly Veterans Memorial Stadium.

"It feels good, but we've got to stay humble and keep moving forward," said David Yancey, who pitched well in relief. "We can't be content with what we have, because we want to win another state title."

Griffin Michael went 3-for-4 with two doubles and drove in four runs for Kennedy. Austin Christensen was 2-for-3, slugged a long triple into the wind in right-center and scored four times for the Cougars (3-0).

Alex Hayden pitched four strong innings to get the victory and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second inning by picking a runner off second base for the third out. Hayden, a junior, is bidding to become Kennedy's No.3 starter behind Christensen and Michael.

"I was very happy with him," Coach Bret Hoyer remarked. "He came out and he was pretty excited. He was keyed up, and he threw fantastic."

Adam Lloyd pitched a 1-2-3 inning for the Cougars in the fifth, but he ran into trouble in the sixth and loaded the bases with one out. Yancey relieved Lloyd and put out the fire without the Saints scoring a run, then had a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh.

The thermometer said it was 52 degrees, but a fierce north wind dropped the wind-chill much lower. Fielders had trouble with pop-ups, but otherwise it was a fairly clean game.

The Cougars watched Xavier beat Washington, 8-3, in the semifinals Wednesday, then beat the Saints by the same score.

"At first it was a little cold, sitting up in the stands," Yancey said. "But once you got out there it wasn't too bad. My arm felt pretty good tonight, so getting loose wasn't too hard."

Xavier wasted too many chances. The pickoff play hurt them in the second inning when the score was 1-1, and they trailed 7-3 in the sixth when they loaded the bases with one out and failed to cross the plate.

The Saints' pitchers had trouble holding runners on base, helping Kennedy steal six bases, and the Cougars took several other bases on pitches in the dirt.

"It's tough to have mistakes and play a well-coached and experienced team like Kennedy," Xavier Coach Dave Schemmel said. "They're a good, experienced team. They don't get flustered, and they play hard."

Kennedy beat Xavier in the championship game of the Metro tournament for the second straight year. This was the 42nd Metro tournament, and the Battle of 42nd Street went to the Cougars.

Eric Zenisek went 3-for-3 for the Saints. Colby Brecht was 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs.

Kennedy hosts North Scott Thursday night. Xavier plays at Muscatine on Friday.

XAVIER (3)
Blake Helms, ss, 3 0 0 0, Nate Even, 2b, 4 0 0 0, Mac Mattke, 1b, 4 0 1 0, Kevin Hosch, lf, 4 0 0 0, Colin Brown, 3b, 0 0 0 0, Corbin Woods, 3b, 4 0 1 0, Alex Ries, cf, 3 0 1 0, Dane Mehring, dh, 1 2 0 0, Tyler Hines, p, 0 0 0 0, Ean McNeal, lf, 0 0 0 0, Eric Zenisek, rf, 3 1 3 0, Colby Brecht, c, 2 0 2 2, Andrew Sodawasser, cr, 0 0 0 0. Totals 28 3 8 2.

KENNEDY (8)
Terrell Sykes, 2b, 4 1 1 2, Austin Christensen, rf, 3 4 2 0, Griffin Michael, ss, 4 0 3 4, Devon Jacobus, 3b, 3 0 1 1, Cody Bell, 1b, 3 0 0 0, David Yancey, lf, 2 2 1 0, Matt Maiers, c, 2 1 1 0, Josh Jahlas, cf, 2 0 0 1, Austin Benson, dh, 2 0 0 0, Alex Hayden, p, 0 0 0 0, Adam Lloyd, p, 0 0 0 0, Jud Rhoades, ph, 1 0 0 0, Logan Ambrosy, lf, 0 0 0 0. Totals 26 8 9 8.

Xavier  010 200 0 - 3 8 0
Kennedy 141 101 x - 8 9 2

Hines, Hosch (3), Woods (6) and Brecht; Hayden, Lloyd (5), Yancey (6) and Maiers. W - Hayden; L - Hines.
2B - Ries, Brecht, Michael 2. 3B - Christensen, Jacobus. SB - Yancey 2, Maiers 2, Sykes, Christensen.