Kennedy pumps up Warren with strong effort
Ryan Kennedy sported a biceps that would make “Popeye” proud.
His teammates packed “Popeye” punch at the plate Saturday.
After pitching Warren’s baseball team to a 13-4 win over host Libertyville in the teams’ Class 4A regional final, a game in which the victorious Blue Devils pounded 15 hits, including a pair of homers, Kennedy iced.
He stuffed bags of ice under his tight, short-sleeved T-shirt, making his biceps and shoulders look especially buffed.
“My arms are getting a little bigger,” Kennedy joked.
Kennedy’s performance, after a shaky start: huge.
“Actually, I feel real good right now,” Kennedy said. “I feel like I can throw a couple of more innings.”
Funny, after Libertyville (20-15) scored 3 runs after two were out in the top of the first, it looked like Kennedy might not throw many more innings.
Instead, the Valparaiso-bound righty found a rhythm, as well as the strike zone, as Warren (21-12) secured a berth in Wednesday’s 4:30 p.m. sectional semifinal against Palatine at Barrington. Kennedy (7-2) yielded only two more hits — doubles by Nick Coutre — after the first inning en route to a complete-game effort.
“I was down after the first inning,” said Kennedy, who surrendered 3 first-inning singles, including Robbie Dittman’s two-out line drive that plated 2 runs, and back-to-back walks.
“I thought I made a couple of good pitches — a couple of calls I didn’t get — and they had a couple of good swings. I was in the dugout (upset), and my team picked me up.”
Warren flexed its muscle in a 7-run second off Wildcats junior right-hander Dar Townsend.
Adam Glogovsky started the rally with a single, moved to second on a balk and sped home on Caleb Haley’s single. Mike Herrmann later stroked an RBI single to pull Warren even. Then with the bases loaded and two out, Alex Letto lined a pitch that eluded center-fielder Coutre, scoring all 3 runs. Letto ended up on second with a double, and he scored on Glogovsky’s second hit of the inning.
The Blue Devils sent 11 batters to the plate in the frame.
“It was huge,” Glogovsky said of the 7-run outburst. “I don’t think we would have won the game without that inning. It jump-started everything for the next few innings.”
Warren added to its lead in the third thanks to Herrmann’s 2-RBI single and Kevin Colburn’s 2-run homer to left.
Libertyville coach Jim Schurr pulled Townsend after Anthony Garza led off the Warren third with a single.
“I did everything I could,” Townsend said. “They’re good hitters. I tip my cap to them. They came out here ready to hit the ball, and they did it.”
Warren touched Townsend for 8 hits in his 2-plus innings.
“He’s a good pitcher,” Kennedy said. “We thought this was going to be like a 4-3, 3-2 game. But we jumped on him. I haven’t seen us hit like that (in the second inning) in a while.”
Haley hit a solo homer in the fourth to make it 12-3.
Kennedy gave up an RBI groundout to Evan Skoug in the fifth, but nothing else.
“He’s a competitor,” Warren coach Clint Smothers said of Kennedy, his ace. “That’s the reason he struggled in the first inning, because he was so pumped up. His fastball, he’s lighting that up and then his change is still almost like his fastball (velocity-wise). It took him an inning, and then he did what he needed to do.”
Kennedy struck out three — shortstop Pat Kenney was busy with 4 assists and a putout — and walked only two after the first.
“He kept us off-balance, and we were swinging at pitches we really shouldn’t have been,” said Townsend, who knocked in Libertyville’s first run with a single. “I don’t think everybody was ready to go.”
Herrmann finished 3-for-3, while Glogovsky was 3-for-4 for the Blue Devils. Warren got 2 hits apiece from Kennedy, Colburn, Haley and Garza. Ryan McKeon had 2 sacrifice bunts.
“I was really proud of the hitters,” Smothers said. “We knew we’d see Dar Townsend, who I feel is one of the best pitchers in the conference. He’s going to put the ball down and away. We did a great job hitting this week.”