Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer found a new way to try and win the Mississippi Valley Conference baseball title on Friday.

In the midst of playing three games on a scorching hot day, he told his players to go for a refreshing dip in the Kennedy High School pool.

It worked swimmingly.

The Cougars defeated Dubuque Wahlert, 6-2, in the completion of a suspended game Friday afternoon as the thermometer flirted with 100 degrees, and they had 90 minutes to kill before their scheduled doubleheader against Waterloo West would begin.

Everyone in the pool!

The Cougars splashed around for about an hour and returned to the ballpark to sweep Waterloo West, 15-11 and 14-1, to stay alive in the Mississippi Division race.

Ah, a refreshing swim on a searing afternoon.

"I wouldn't call that swimming," Hoyer said with a smile. "It was more jump in, soak and don't screw around."

Hoyer is cautious when it comes to swimming pools. At the state tournament a few years ago, Hoyer let the Cougars go swimming and one of his players suffered a concussion when a teammate accidentally jumped on top of him in the pool.

In any case, his players appreciated the reprieve on Friday.

"It was really refreshing," said Cody Bell, who continued his hot hitting and picked up a save in the 15-11 victory over Waterloo West. "I wasn't too hot the second game of the day, so I thought it was a real benefit."

The three victories lifted the second-ranked Cougars to 29-4 for the season, putting them on the cusp of a 30-win campaign as they head to Solon Saturday night.

Of more significance, Kennedy finished the conference part of its schedule with a 22-4 mark to keep its title hopes alive in the Mississippi Division. Linn-Mar swept Dubuque Hempstead on Friday and is sitting at 21-3 in the division heading into a makeup doubleheader at Iowa City High on Monday.

If Linn-Mar sweeps City High, the Lions will be the Mississippi Division champs at 23-3. If Linn-Mar splits on Monday, the Lions will share the division title with Kennedy at 22-4. And if Linn-Mar gets swept on Monday, the Cougars will be the outright champs.

The Cougars want that conference title.

"It's a big deal. We talk about it every day," said Logan Ambrosy, who continued his ferocious hitting on Friday.

Kennedy's No. 1 goal every year is winning the state title. Then comes the conference.

"I feel like it's a real big deal," said Bell. "It's more of a team thing than anything else, because I feel like you need a whole staff to go through the whole conference. I feel like this is a good year to do it."

Kennedy has won five conference titles since 2003. If the Cougars win the title this year, it would be six crowns in 10 years.

"It's the second-biggest goal," said Ambrosy. "It's a lot harder to win our conference title than a substate."

It's also a lot harder to win three games in one day, even against struggling teams, but the Cougars found a way to pull it off.

The tripleheader was a result of stormy weather last Friday in eastern Iowa. Kennedy won the first game of its doubleheader at Dubuque Wahlert and had a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning of the nightcap when the game was suspended due to lightning.

Wahlert was coming to Cedar Rapids anyway Friday for a doubleheader at Xavier, so the Golden Eagles stopped at Kennedy Friday afternoon to finish the suspended game at 2:30. The Cougars expanded their lead to 6-0 in the top of the seventh (Kennedy was the visiting team), but Wahlert rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh and had the bases loaded with only one out.

Levi Nauman lined a shot that appeared headed to left field for a single, but Kennedy shortstop Derek Jacobus snared the frozen rope and flipped to second base for a double play to end the game and preserve the 6-2 victory.

Nick Appleget (7-0) got the victory against Wahlert. Alex Hayden went 3-for-4 with three doubles. Bell collected a double, triple and two RBIs. Jacobus and Chico Lizarraga had two hits.

Wahlert (12-24, 9-17) left Kennedy and drove down 42nd Street NE to Xavier, where it lost a doubleheder to finish 0-and-3 for the day.

Kennedy left the park for its refreshing dip in the pool, then returned and grabbed a 10-3 lead after three innings against Waterloo West with freshman Sammy Lizarraga pitching for the Cougars. The Trojans got to Lizarraga, however, and pulled within 11-9 in the top of the fifth inning and Hoyer replaced Lizarraga with Zach Johnson.

The Cougars scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and added two more markers in the bottom of the sixth for a seemingly safe 15-9 advantage, but Waterloo West (6-31, 3-23) refused to go quietly. The Wahawks scored twice in the seventh to pull within 15-11 and had the bases loaded with two outs, but Bell got the final out on a fly ball.

Josh Jahlas and Bell went 4-for-5 in the opener against Waterloo West. Ambrosy went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a towering home run and three RBIs. Andrew Johnson hit a three-run double for the Cougars.

The nightcap against Waterloo West became a laugher when Kennedy batted around twice in the second inning and scored 14 runs. Jahlas had two doubles and four RBIs in the second inning. Chico Lizarraga had two singles in the inning with three RBIs.

Adam Lloyd allowed only two hits in the 14-1 victory, both of them doubles. He pitched the entire five-inning game and raised his record to a perfect 9-0.

COMPLETION OF JUNE 29 SUSPENDED GAME

KENNEDY (6)
Jahlas, cf, 4 1 1 1, Dr Jacobus, ss, 4 1 2 0, Bell, 1b, 4 0 2 2, Dv Jacobus, 3b, 4 0 0 0, Skow, 3b, 0 0 0 0, Ambrosy, c, 2 1 0 0, Hayden, 2b, 4 1 3 1, Staton, pr, 0 1 0 0, C.Lizarraga, dh, 3 0 2 0, Unash, pr, 0 0 0 0, Appleget, p, 0 0 0 0, Maiers, p, 0 0 0 0, Lloyd, rf, 3 0 0 0, Seubert, rf, 1 0 0 0, A.Johnson, lf, 2 1 1 0, Z.Johnson, 1 0 0 0. Totals 32 6 11 4.

WAHLERT (2)
Nauman, 2b/ss, 4 0 0 0, Ruden, dh/2b, 3 0 2 0, Wedewer, ss, 0 0 0 0, Klostermann, c, 3 0 0 0, M.Hoffman, rf, 1 1 0 0, Gasper, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Dittmer, pr, 0 0 0 0, Oglesby, cf, 3 1 0 0, N.Hoffman, 3b, 2 0 1 1, Leubka, p, 1 0 0 0, Kunkel, p, 1 0 1 0, Dittmer, cr, 0 0 0 0, Launspach, cr, 0 0 0 0, Ploessl, lf, 2 0 1 0. Totals 23 2 5 1.

Kennedy    112 001 1 - 6 11 1
Wahlert     000 000 2 - 2  5  4

Appleget, Maiers (7) and Ambrosy; Leubka, Kunkel (4) and Klostermann. W - Appleget (7-0). L - Luebka (1-6). S - Maiers (1). 2B - Bell, Hayden 3. 3B - Bell. SB - Dr.Jacobus, Lizarraga, A.Johnson.

REGULAR DOUBLEHEADER

GAME ONE

WATERLOO WEST (11)
Brown, cf, 5 1 2 1, Kullen, rf, 5 2 3 0, Vaughn, ss, 4 2 3 2, Fricke, c, 4 0 3 2, Medina, cr, 0 2 0 0, Ohrt, 1b, 4 2 2 1, Jenkins, 3b/p, 4 0 0 0, Price, lf, 3 2 2 1, Heyerhoff, 2b/3b, 4 0 2 2, McClain, p/2b, 4 0 0 1. Totals 37 11 17 10.

KENNEDY (15)
Jahlas, cf, 5 2 4 2, Dr Jacobus, ss, 4 1 1 1, Bell, 1b/p, 5 3 4 1, Staton, 1b, 0 0 0 0, Dv Jacobus, 3b, 4 2 0 2, Ambrosy, rf/1b, 4 2 3 3, Hayden, 2b, 2 1 0 0, C.Lizarraga, c, 2 0 1 1, Smetzer, cr, 0 1 0 0, Appleget, dh, 1 1 0 0, S.Lizarraga, p, 0 0 0 0, Z.Johnson, p, 0 0 0 0, Seubert, pr, 0 1 0 0, Oltmann, rf, 0 0 0 0, A.Johnson, lf, 3 1 1 3. Totals 30 15 14 13.

Wahlert     201 150 2 - 11 17 3
Kennedy    505 122 x - 15 14 2

McClain, Jenkins (4) and Fricke. S.Lizarraga, Z.Johnson (5), Bell (7) and C.Lizarraga. W - S.Lizarraga (2-0). L - McLain (0-7). S - Bell (1). 2B - Kullen, Ambrosy (2), Bell, A.Johnson. 3B - Vaughn, Bell, Jahlas. HR - Ambrosy. SB - Jahlas.

GAME TWO

WATERLOO WEST (1)
Brown, cf, 3 0 0 0, Kullen, rf/p, 2 0 0 0, Vaughn, ss, 2 0 1 0, Fricke, c, 1 0 0 0, Ticknor, ph, 1 0 0 0, Ohrt, p/1b, 1 0 1 0, Evans, cr, 0 1 0 0, Price, lf/3b, 2 0 0 0, Jenkins, 1b/rf/c, 1 0 0 1, Heyerhoff, 3b, 1 0 0 0, Payne, rf, 0 0 0 0, McClain, 2b, 2 0 0 0. Totals 16 1 2 1.

KENNEDY (14)
Jahlas, cf, 3 2 2 4, Jurgensen, ph, 1 0 0 0, Dr Jacobus, ss, 2 1 1 1, King, ph, 1 0 0 0, Bell, 1b, 3 1 1 1, Staton, 1b, 1 0 0 0, Dv Jacobus, 3b, 1 2 0 0, Skow, 3b, 0 0 0 0, Ambrosy, rf, 0 1 0 1, Unash, ph, 0 0 0 0, Moorman, rf, 0 0 0 0, Hayden, 2b, 0 2 0 0, Solorio, ph, 1 0 0 0, Smetzer, 2b, 0 0 0 0, C.Lizarraga, dh, 2 2 2 2, Maiers, c, 0 0 0 0, Seubert, ph, 1 0 0 0, Lloyd, p, 3 0 1 1, Staton, cr, 0 1 0 0, A.Johnson, lf, 1 2 1 1, Oltmann, lf, 1 0 0 0. Totals 21 14 8 12.

Waterloo West   010    00 - 1 2 2
Kennedy          0(14)0 0x - 14 8 0

Ohrt, Kullen (2) and Fricke; Lloyd and Maiers. W - Lloyd (9-0). L - Ohrt (1-6). 2B - Vaughn, Ohrt, Jahlas 2.