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.