Kennedy opens with a strong performance at the plate, mound

Pitchers fan 12 batters in opening two games

Kennedy opened the baseball season with an emphatic 11-0 win over St. Paul Johnson on April 11 at Red Haddox Field in Bloomington.

Eagles relief pitcher Manuel Medina struck out five batters in two innings of work yielding just one hit. Meanwhile, at the plate, he went 2-for-2 with a double and triple to drive in a pair of runs. He also drew a walk and scored three runs.

He was one of four Kennedy batters to slug a double joining Ryan Sheehan, Will Vogel and Jonah Kaluza. Nick Manning drew a pair of walks and scored twice. Kaluza drove home three runs in the five-inning contest. Gunner Geyen and Alejandro Lopez joined Medina to strike out 12 batters in just five innings. Lopez fanned the size in his lone inning of work.

Kennedy couldn’t keep that success going the next day as they opened Tri-Metro Conference play against Columbia Heights/Park Center the next day at Haddox Field coming up on the losing end of a 15-2 final score in six innings.

The Eagles were limited to four hits from Vogel, Sheehan, Geyen and Rohr Brockman. Mason Biermaier drew two walks and joined Sheehan with a run.

Kennedy’s pitchers struck out 12 but walked 10 and were tagged with 10 earned runs on five hits.