Two Ians Get the Job Done at La Quinta
For comic relief, forget about attending your local playhouse. Go to any baseball game involving Westminster La Quinta High and listen to the confusion among fans and scouts when discussion turns to Ian Kennedy and Ian Stewart.
Kennedy pitches, Stewart plays third base, but with both being 17-year-old juniors named Ian, it’s as if they were twins.
Scouts have come up to Stewart and said, “I heard you pitched great the other day.”
Scouts have greeted Kennedy by saying, “Are you the pitcher or the third baseman?”
Perhaps the stars were aligned on the day the two Ians arrived at La Quinta three years ago.
“It was the first time I’ve ever met another Ian in my life,” Kennedy said.
There are lots of Ians in Ireland, where Kennedy’s ancestors came from, and lots of Ians in Scotland, home of Stewart’s distant relatives.
But how many Ians can throw 92 mph like Kennedy and how many Ians can hit a baseball 420 feet like Stewart?
“They’re class acts,” Coach Dave Demarest said.
Stewart, 6 feet 3 and 193 pounds, has seven home runs this season after a sophomore year in which he drove in 31 runs. There are professional scouts who swear he’s one of the best hitters in Southern California.
Kennedy, 6-0 and 185, is 5-0 with an 0.47 earned-run average and has 56 strikeouts in 30 innings. As a sophomore, he was 10-2 with a 1.33 ERA.
These two Ians have immense talent. They’ve become good friends because their dreams and interests are the same.
Each owns a Chevy El Camino. “His is louder than mine,” Stewart said.
Each knows how to make the other laugh. Stewart does impersonations of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Carrey and the Crocodile Hunter. Kennedy makes weird faces.
“I was real quiet my freshman year,” Stewart said. “Now, my coaches tell me to shut up because I’m always talking.”
Each is obsessed with baseball.
“It means everything to me,” Stewart said. “Baseball is my life. I’m always looking up everything on the Internet, spring training scores, fantasy teams.... “
Said Kennedy: “I do about everything he does except the Internet. I love the game. It’s what I want to do for a living.”
Kennedy is a power pitcher with excellent control. He threw a five-inning perfect game as a freshman. His delivery is smooth and effortless. Since he was 7, he has thrown the ball harder than most.
“It just comes natural,” he said.
As a sophomore, he was throwing 86 mph. Last winter, his fastball touched 92 mph.
“I don’t know what I did,” he said.
Stewart was an outstanding club soccer player who played on a state championship team when he was 13, then never played again.
“My coach knew I was involved in baseball and told me I had to make a decision,” he said. “I’m a better baseball player than soccer player. I chose baseball.”
Stewart impresses scouts by the way he can hit quality pitchers. But his patience has been tested this season because so many pitchers are choosing to walk him rather than risk giving up a double or home run.
“I’m really anxious at the plate because I’m getting so many balls,” he said. “I want to hit so bad and I get frustrated when I’m not playing to my potential. I’m trying to be more patient, let the balls go and take my walks.”
Stewart bats third and Kennedy fourth in the lineup for La Quinta (13-1), which has won nine consecutive Garden Grove League championships and won its opening game Monday in the 16-team National Classic.
If work ethic is a sign of future success, these two Ians are going places.
“You have to be busting your butt every day because there’s always someone wanting to work as hard or harder,” Stewart said.
Earlier this season, confusion reigned when La Quinta played the other La Quinta High near Palm Springs.
Add the two Ians into the equation and it was enough to cause mental anguish, especially after one hit two homers and the other dominated on the mound.
It was just another example of what can happen when two Ians with superior baseball skills play on the same team.
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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com
