Kennedy beats back Xavier for Metro Tourney title

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's going to take a good team and a good effort from that good team to beat Cedar Rapids Kennedy this baseball season. But you already knew that.

The Class 4A top-ranked Cougars seem to have picked up where they left off last state championship season. Another Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament championship is the first in what will likely be a long list of accomplishments this club will attain.

“I knew we had a lot of talent returning,” said Kennedy's Austin Christensen, after his team's 8-3 win over Cedar Rapids Xavier in last night's title game at cold and blustery Veterans Memorial Stadium. “But you never know at the start of the year how you're going to come out and play. Everybody's working very hard and we're playing hard, obviously. It's just good to get some wins here.”

Kennedy (3-0) rolled past Cedar Rapids Jefferson in Monday night's first round, escaped Cedar Rapids Prairie in Tuesday's semifinals and led from virtually start to finish last night. The Cougars scored runs the first four innings, jumping to a 6-1 lead after three.

David Yancey pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, picking up the save for starter Alex Hayden. This is Kennedy's 11th Metro Tourney championship, its second in a row and third in four years.

“We can't stay content,” Yancey said. “Winning a state title last year, a lot of people would get complacent with that. We know we've got to keep working hard to have a great chance to win it this year, too.”

Griffin Michael had three hits and four RBIs for Kennedy. Christensen, a possible pick in Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft in two weeks, went 3-for-3 with a walk and four runs scored, hitting a one-hopper off the 390-foot sign in right-center for a triple in the sixth.

That drive was dead into a 25-mile-per-hour wind.

“We hit the ball a lot better tonight,” Christensen said. “The first couple games, we had some bad at-bats at some key times. I know we're a much better hitting team than we showed. And I know we can keep hitting the ball better than we have. We're solid one through nine in our order.”

Xavier (2-1) beat Cedar Rapids Washington, 8-3, in a semifinal played directly ahead of the championship game. Dane Mehring threw six strong innings for the victory, which came without starters Nate Even and Alex Rios, who were playing a substate game for Xavier's victorious soccer team.

The entire consolation portion of the tournament was cancelled by rain.