Kennedy rolls past mistake-prone Linn-Mar and into Metro tourney finals

MARION - At its best, prep baseball can be exhilirating to watch. Let's just say this was not exhilirating to watch.Unless you were rooting for Cedar Rapids Kennedy last night, of course. And even parts of a 12-2 five-inning win over Linn-Mar in the semifinals of the Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament had to seem tedious.“Linn-Mar is a fine team,” Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer said. “They didn't play well, and we were able to take advantage of their mistakes.”The Class 4A top-ranked Cougars literally watched as Linn-Mar pitchers walked them, balked them or hit them. The Lions had a good home crowd excited after scoring twice in the bottom of the first inning, but Kennedy put up four runs each in the second and third, added three in the fourth and another in the fifth to invoke the mercy rule.Adam Lloyd threw a complete-game three-hitter for Kennedy, backing up a terrific 14-strikeout performance by Alex Hayden in Monday's quarters. The Cougars stole 10 bases.“That just kind of happened,” Hoyer said. “We've got some players with some pretty good instincts.”The Linn-Mar help was substantial, to say the least: six errors, 10 walks, two hit batters, five wild pitches and three balks.Kennedy moves on to play Cedar Rapids Prairie tonight at 7 in the Metro Tournament finals at Veterans Memorial Stadium while Linn-Mar plays Cedar Rapids Xavier in the third-place game at 5. The Cougars have won this tourney 11 times and are shooting for a three-peat.The fifth-place game is at 7 at Marion between Cedar Rapids Washington and the host Indians. Mount Vernon and Cedar Rapids Jefferson play for seventh place at 5 at Marion.Kennedy scored its dozen runs on only five hits, two from Logan Ambrosy. Cody Bell had a big opposite-field two-run double to put the Cougars ahead for good.In the connsolation game here, Washington held off Jefferson, 10-9. The Warriors built a 10-2 lead, only to see Jefferson score seven runs in the fifth inning to make it anyone's game.Noah Dostal threw the final two innings for the save, stranding runners on the corners with one out to end it. Starter Ky Kramer took the loss for Jefferson.Junior A.J. Puk threw the first two innings for Washington. The highly touted University of Florida commit tripled, walked twice and was hit by a pitch. Coach Tony Lombardi (who notched his first win as Warriors baseball coach) said Puk is expected to play about half of his team's games, also spending significant time with a traveling team in the Midwest.Puk is considered a sure-fire MLB draft pick next year.“He wants to be here,” Lombardi said. “But it's also about his future.”