Kennedy undoes Prairie for second time in as many days

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids Kennedy's 4-2 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie was not the high-scoring slugfest Monday's was, and save for one error, the Hawks may have split the series.

After scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI triple and RBI double from Cooper Reittinger and Harrison Cook, respectively, Prairie pitcher Tyler Nunemaker walked two batters to load the bases and bring up Cougar cleanup hitter Jackson Behn.

Behn hit into what looked like a routine ground out, a chopper straight back to Nunemaker, but Nunemaker sailed the throw over the head of Hawk first baseman Mitch Nierling.

'With a team like that, you never really feel comfortable with any lead,' Behn said. 'We knew we were going to have to battle our butts off out here.

Behn said he initially thought he'd missed his opportunity to plate the winning runners with his grounder in the seventh.

'Pressure was put on when I was running down and he overthrew it.' he said. 'It's a good feeling.'

Prairie had runners on base in almost every inning, but struggled to score until Reittinger and Cook's extra base hits. Known for stealing bases with abandon, the Hawks stole only one on the day.

Advancing runners on stealing would not have made the difference however. After he settled in, Cougar pitcher Graham Woods threw 4.1 innings of shutout baseball, allowing just four hits.

Bryce Church came on in relief for the Cougars, and aside from the two runs in the bottom of the sixth, controlled the Hawk lineup.

The Cougar pitcher did get in a sticky situation with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. He walked the tying runs to bring up Nunemaker, the winning run.

'We're taught to trust our defense, and I trust our defense more than any other team in the state,' Church said. 'We were playing no doubles. I knew that our outfielders are pretty quick, They're going to catch everything.'

Church induced a fly ball to center field to end the game and end Prarie's chances of splitting the series.

Kennedy head coach Brett Hoyer said the two victories over the No. 4-ranked Hawks showed his team can beat the team's elite in the state.

'Ranked fourth, undefeated, Metro champs, To be able to play with them on two consecutive nights, it's a huge confidence builder for our younger and inexperienced guys,' Hoyer said.

Though the seventh inning may have been the closest Prairie came to a comeback, Hoyer said he was sweating in the dugout on several occasions throughout the game.

'They pose a lot of problems for you on the bases, and they can swing it, 1-9,' Hoyer said. 'We know we can compete with the teams of that caliber.'