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Next Up: University of Southern California Trojans

2005
Kennedy, who established himself as one of college baseball's top pitchers, will once again be the Trojans' anchor in the starting rotation...earned 2005 Baseball America Preseason All-America third team honors.

Summer
He was a member of the 2004 U.S. National Team, going 3-1 with a 3.81 ERA...in 26 innings, he allowed 21 hits, walked 10 and struck out a team-high 40 batters with a .219 opponents' batting average...member of the team that won the FISU II World University Baseball Championship in Taiwan...during the tournament, Kennedy earned a win against Japan (5-3)...had a no-hitter through 7 1/3 innings against Japan until he was touched up for three runs (did not allow a hit until his 100th pitch)...he also played on the 2002 U.S. Junior National Team...started for Team USA at the 2002 IBAF World Junior Championships in the bronze medal game, but did not get a decision in a 12-3 win (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 10 SO).

2004
In his 2004 freshman season, Kennedy was the team's No. 1 starter and registered a 7-2 record with a 2.91 ERA and one save...in 92 2/3 innings, he allowed 86 hits with 31 walks and 120 strikeouts (15 starts)...earned All-Pac-10 and Baseball America Midseason Freshman All-America honors...earned the win at No. 1 Stanford on May 21 with six innings of work, allowing two runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts...recorded a victory at Washington State on April 16, allowing a run in seven innings with eight strikeouts and struck out the side in the third and seventh innings...in a televised game on March 27 against UCLA, he threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings, scattering seven hits with a walk and eight strikeouts in the Trojans' 5-0 win...defeated No. 22 Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., with 6 2/3 innings of work (5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 SO)...earned his first collegiate save in his only relief appearance of the season on March 2 at UC Irvine, striking out the side in the ninth...struck out 10 batters in five innings in a win on Feb. 27 against No. 5 Georgia Tech at the Kia Baseball Bash in Fullerton, allowing two runs on five hits...struck out a season-high 11 batters in seven scoreless innings against Louisville at the Public Storage Baseball Classic, allowing just two hits and no walks...did not get the decision in his collegiate debut on Feb. 13 against No. 9 Long Beach State against eventual Golden Spikes Award winner Jered Weaver, allowing only one hit and one unearned run in five innings with three walks and eight strikeouts.

The Trojans opened the season on Tuesday with a 6-0 win over San Diego State... USC is picked to finish fifth in the Pac-10, according to Baseball America... star catcher junior Jeff Clement (.293, 10 homers) and Friday night sophomore starter Ian Kennedy (7-2, 2.91) are the Trojans top two players... both are projected by Baseball America to sweep the conference’s top honors... both players were teammates with Dirtbags Cesar Ramos and Troy Tulowitzki on Team USA this past summer... Kennedy is the publication’s fifth-best sophomore in the country, while Clement is just ahead of Tulowitzki on the junior list at fifth-best... Saturday starter Zach Kalter is a transfer from Pasadena City College and is the third-best newcomer in conference... last year USC went 24-32 for Mike Gillespie... USC leads the all-time series 56-26, holding just a 29-24 edge since 1989... LBSU has won the last three, three-game series.