Shane Fessel had homered exactly twice in his previous 315 trips to the plate as a varsity baseball player. The next 15 times he stepped into a batter’s box for Smoky Hill, Fessel went deep eight times — a span of five games and 12 at-bats.
“I’ve never seen a streak like this,” Smoky Hill coach Scott Henry said. “I’ve seen it over a season, but not over a five-game stretch. No. This is pretty amazing.”
“I just hit the ball hard,” Fessel added, “and it’s been a home run every time.”
Fessel — a senior who transferred from Villa Park High School in Orange, Calif., before the season — hit his first home run of 2011 in his final at-bat of an 8-2 victory over Arapahoe on April 16. He didn’t stop, including two-homer games against Mullen, Arapahoe and Grandview.
“We’re just trying to stay out of his way,” Henry said.
Teams hadn’t been pitching around him.
“Now,” Henry said, “if I were the other coach, I would certainly pitch around him.”
On Saturday against Mullen, Fessel settled down, walking in his first three appearances (with an RBI), then taking a called third strike.
