Kenny, Fort Dodge end Kennedy's brilliant run (w/video)

DES MOINES - Don't let one game diminish everything you've accomplished the past two seasons, boys.

That's hard, hard advice for Cedar Rapids Kennedy to hear right now. Coming to Principal Park and losing in the state baseball tournament quarterfinals was not on this team's radar but was the bitter reality last night.

Will Kenny pitched the game of his life to lift Fort Dodge to a 2-1 win that ended Kennedy's bid for back-to-back 4A championships. He didn't give up a hit until there were two outs in the seventh inning.

"We ran into a kid that pitched real well," Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer said. "They got some hits to fall here and a sac fly there. We just couldn't quite get that. That's the way baseball is. One game can't define an entire career. They'll realize that. Right now, it's just a little hard to."

Kennedy won the Mississippi Valley Conference's first 4A title since 1994 last season. The Cougars won another division championship this summer and rolled to Des Moines as the No. 2 seed.

This was not the ending these guys envisioned.

"Winning state last year was great," said second baseman Terrell Sykes, one of nine seniors who will be remembered for helping create this special stretch of baseball. "It's not as good when you're a senior and you don't win it. To lose the last game you're playing. When it comes down to the end, you didn't do it as a senior. That's kind of hard."

Kenny (6-4) was absolutely brilliant against a club averaging over nine runs per game. Pitching out of the stretch, even with no one on base, the lefty's live fastball and biting cutter or slider kept the Cougars at bay for the second time this season.

Kenny gave up six hits and one earned run in a complete-game regular-season victory. He never retired the side in order last night, walking six and having his teammates commit three errors, but he gutted through, especially the last two inning.

He got David Yancey to bounce into a double play with two on and none out in the sixth in a huge play. Austin Christensen lined a two-out single to right to end his no-hitter, then Griffin Michael followed with a single past second that ended the shutout.

But Devon Jacobus flew routinely to right with runners on the corners to end it.

"I was kind of tired and getting worn down," Kenny said. "But I had to pitch through it."

Fort Dodge (30-12) scored both of its runs against Austin Christensen (7-1) in the third, on Kenny's RBI bloop single to left-center and ensuing sacrifice fly. Christensen said the extreme heat and humidity may have affected him on the mound, as he lasted just four innings.

"It's really tough, but we've just got to focus on all the good things we've done," he said. "I've been fortunate to come up here (three) times in my career. Not a lot of people can say that. It's one bad thing, but all of our positives equal that out."

Here's a short video interview with Christensen:

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