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Smet-Cooper leads his team into the championship game | Local Sports

Benjamin Smet-Cooper, 12, who will be heading into the seventh grade in the fall, is enjoying this baseball season with the Little Leaguers of Kenosha. His Firefighters team is 16-0 and will be playing in a “Just Say No To Drugs” Championship game beginning at 1 pm at Helfaer Field in Milwaukee on Sunday, June 12.

Not only is this the best record they have had, it is also the best individual season he has ever had.



Smet Cooper

Smet-Cooper currently has nine home runs, 45 RBIs with a batting average of .685. His on-base percentage is .742, his slugging percentage is 1.36 and his OPS/OBP combined which equates to how well a hitter can reach base with how well he can hit for average and power, is a staggering 2.098, according to GameChanger.

“I have been doing this for a long time and my last really good group had many of the kids on the current St. Joseph’s team that could win their second consecutive state title this year,” Firefighters head coach Adam Meier said. “Ben is at the level of a lot of those great players. He’s a good kid and hopefully he continues to get better and continues to work as hard as he has the last four years.”

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It wasn’t just the last four years that Smet-Cooper has been playing baseball, it started early and he credits his family for the love of the game.

“I have been playing my whole life,” Smet-Cooper said. “My family has always been playing it, so I just kind of started playing. But this has definitely been my best year.”

He plays first base, third base and he pitches. At an event hosted by prep baseball report in Illinois on March 30, he had the highest pitch velocity on the mound 75.8 by nearly 10 mph for the 12 and under age group. That is when his father Brandon Cooper really began to think there’s a future in baseball for his son.

“He’s left handed, he’s throwing in the 70’s, he’s hitting straight tanks and he’s got good grades,” Cooper said. “There’s probably a strong possibility he could play college baseball. Is he going to go pro? Probably not. I would love it, but that’s hard.”

The hard work, the preparation and practice began early for Smet-Cooper.

“He’s such a hard worker,” his father Brandon Cooper said. “I think we turned it up when he was around 6 or 7 years old. We would work constantly. I’m talking batting cages, any camps, playing up with older kids.”

While Cooper takes a lot of pride in his son’s continued success on the baseball diamond, the accolades off the field are much more important.

“He does student council and is part of the National Junior Honor Society,” he said. “I played at a high level; I know what the colleges want. It is not only just athletic ability; you have to have the academics. The difference between a 3.7 and a 3.9 GPA could be $10,000. I think he’s good enough to play collegiate baseball. I’m extremely proud.”

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