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.