After winning the Class 2A/1A state championship by a 10-rung mercy rule in six innings last season, the Kennedy baseball team returned to Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer on Saturday to do it all again.
This year, the Trojans beat Blanchet Catholic 10-0 in six innings to hoist its second straight state championship, and its third overall.
Kennedy also finishes the season with a perfect 20-0 record, the first team in the OSAA to do so since Knappa did it in 2018.
The Trojans quickly got on the scoreboard. In the bottom of the first inning, Ethan Kleinschmit scored on an RBI single by Brian Beyer. At the next at-bat, Andrew Cuff scored on a single by Matt Hopkins.
Kennedy added one more run in the bottom of the fourth inning as Brett Boen scored on a sacrifice fly by Owen Bruner.
The game got a little more put away in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Cuff scored on a fielder’s choice and Charlie Beyer scored on a throwing error. Later in the inning, Brian Beyer scored on a fielder’s choice to make it a 6-0 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Andrew Cuff hit a double to score Kleinschmit. Then Charlie Beyer scored on a throwing error and Henry Beyer scored on an RBI single by Brian Beyer. The game was ended as Bruner singled to left field to score Hopkins to make it a 10-0 lead for the Trojans.
Kleinschmit pitched all six innings for the Trojans, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out nine.
Hopkins ended the game with three hits and one RBI. Bruner had two hits and three RBIs.
Carson McNally picked up the loss for the Cavaliers. In four innings, he allowed six hits, five runs (two earned), walked two and struck out one. Drew Bartels came in for 1.1 innings, allowing five hits, five runs (four earned) and three walks with no strikeouts.
Kennedy and Blanchet Catholic were the top scoring teams in Class 2A/1A this spring. The Trojans averaged 10.6 runs scored per game leading up to the state championship game while the Cavaliers have averaged 11.7.
Blanchet Catholic’s season ends with a 28-3 record.
— Nik Streng, nstreng@oregonian.com, @NikStreng
