Jacob Henry began Wednesday's doubleheader against Xavier with a 6.46 earned run average for the Kennedy Cougars, but the senior right-hander was in top form against the Saints.

Henry spun a five-hit shutout as Kennedy blanked the Saints, 6-0, in the second game of their Mississippi Valley Conference twinbill at Ken Charipar Field.

Kennedy took the first game, 15-11, when the mistake-prone Saints committed eight errors and walked 11 batters.

The sweep left the struggling Saints at 3-19 overall and 1-15 in the conference. Kennedy raised its marks to 15-8 overall and 9-7 in the league.

Henry, a senior right-hander, struck out four batters and lowered his ERA to 4.20, knocking more than two runs off his average. He kept the ball around the plate all night and walked only two batters, both in the third inning.

Kennedy jumped to a 10-1 lead in the top of the third inning in the opener, but the Saints sent 14 batters to the plate in the bottom of the third and scored eight runs to pull within 10-9.

The Cougars scored three times in the fifth inning for a 13-9 lead, but Xavier responded with two markers in the bottom of the fifth to pull within 13-11. Kennedy put the game away with two more runs in the seventh for the 15-11 victory in the three-hour marathon.

Tyler Dralle pitched three effective innings in relief for Kennedy for the victory in Game 1. Bryce Charipar took the loss.

Henry and Parker Cooley had three RBIs for Kennedy in the opener. Matt Berst, Henry and Bryce Church had two hits and Parker Kalb had a big two-run single in the fifth.

Bryce Schulte had two hits and a three-run double for Xavier. Sam Meyers had two doubles and three RBIs for the Saints. Gabe Lux and K.J. Giles had two hits.

Nicholas Duehr collected three hits and two RBIs for Kennedy in the nightcap. Giles had two more hits for Xavier. Jacob Hines pitched 6 1/3 innings for the Saints and took the loss.

Kennedy stole 16 bases in the doubleheader.