Kennedy's Christensen is INA state baseball player of the year

CEDAR RAPIDS - There are stumbles in every great career. Even for Austin Christensen.

The Cedar Rapids Kennedy senior was human at the state baseball tournament last week. He actually had the temerity to give up two runs in Kennedy's 2-1 loss to Fort Dodge in a Class 4A quarterfinal.

The heat and humidity seemed to get to him, with Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer bringing him a cup of water on the mound at one point. 

"Sometimes kids get really keyed up," Hoyer said. "Sometimes maybe AC tries to do too much. He's that kind of kid that expects a lot out of himself. That's one of the reasons why he's so terrific."

One of the best players Kennedy and the Metro have ever seen.

The University of Nebraska signee hit .543 with 19 home runs this season, both school records. His 42 career home runs is the most ever by a Metro prep, tied with Cedar Rapids Washington's Chad Christensen, Austin's brother, who will be a junior at Nebraska.

Austin also went 8-1 on the mound as Kennedy's ace, owning the school record for pitching wins. The 6-foot-6 left-hander was literally the "big man" for a Cougars team that experienced unprecedented success during his four-year (five, if you count being moved up to the varsity for the postseason as an eighth-grader) varsity career, including a 4A state championship last year.

Today Christensen is honored as the Iowa Newspaper Association's state player of the year.

"Focus on all the things we've done," Christensen said after Kennedy's loss to Fort Dodge. "I've been fortunate to come up here four times. This was one bad thing. All of our positives equal it all out."

Joining Christensen on the Class 4A first team is teammate Terrell Sykes (utility), Cedar Rapids Prairie's D.J. Utley (first base), Iowa City High's Adam Prybil (utility) and Iowa City West's Ryan Rumpf (infield) and Aaron Peller (outfield). Utley, who hit .441 with a school-record 14 home runs, joined Christensen as a division player of the year in the Mississippi Valley Conference.

Solon's Class 3A state championship team is represented by a trio of first-teamers: pitcher Brandon Shulista, infielder Nick Day and outfielder Derrick Loveless. Day is headed to Iowa to play, while Loveless is an Iowa signee who is expected to sign a professional contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, who drafted him in the 27th round in June.

Dyersville Beckman has a pair of first-team picks in Class 2A in infielder Nate Steger and outfielder Robbie Anstoetter. Both are juniors.

Also selected to the 2A first team is Iowa City Regina pitcher Danny Pacha, West Branch infielder Logan Murry and North Fayette outfielder Jake Greco.

North Tama has a pair of Class 1A first-teamers in Brendon Boerm (infield) and Tyler Cizek (utility). Both hit over .500 this season.

Sigourney outfielder Andrew Utterback and Montezuma pitcher Dakota McFatridge also were selected to the first team.

Here are all the teams, separated by class, beginning with 4A:

In a All State Baseball