in finding his target with a fastball. Kennedy began gaining a reputation as a power pitcher when he was a freshman at La Quinta High School in Westminster, California, pitching a five-inning perfect game. As a sophomore, he posted a 10–2 win–loss record with a 1.33 earned run average (ERA). As a junior, he boasted a 0.38 ERA and recorded 168 strikeouts in innings pitched, with a fastball speed hovering between . As a batter, Kennedy also recorded seven home runs and 31 runs batted in (RBIs) that year. He missed most of his senior season with a fractured patella but managed to put up an 8–0 record and a 0.43 ERA in the games that he did play. Kennedy graduated high school in 2003 with a 39–2 record. Between his junior and senior year of high school, Kennedy played internationally with the 2002 US Junior National Team, with whom he went 1–0 with a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings. Kennedy was tapped as the starting pitcher for the US team's bronze medal match at the 2002 World Junior Baseball Championship, where he took the win with only one earned run and 10 strikeouts in seven innings of work. College career The St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB) drafted Kennedy in the 14th round of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft, but he chose not to sign with the team, instead honoring his commitment to play college baseball for the University of Southern California (USC). There, he followed Anthony Reyes as the team's pitching ace. In 2004, he was the first freshman to make the top of the USC starting rotation since Randy Flores had done so in 1994. He pitched innings, striking out 120 batters and posting a 7–2 record with a 2.91 ERA. At the end of the year, Kennedy was named to the Baseball America Freshman All-America Team. That summer, he helped take the US College National Team to a gold medal at the World University Baseball Championship, putting up a 3–1 record with a 3.81 ERA and leading the team with 40 strikeouts. Kennedy was credited with the win in the championship match against Japan, where he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. USC baseball coach Mike Gillespie opened the 2005 season with the intention of using Kennedy up to three times a week, pitching on Fridays, Sundays, and Tuesdays to limit the