But what happened next took everyone by surprise and sent a hush over the Hampton-Dumont/CAL park for the next half-hour.

Kehoe, Webster City’s head baseball coach who is in his fifth year, collapsed to the ground and he remained motionless for some time.

“I was instructing some things that I felt needed to change and then it felt like I’d been clocked in the back of my neck, where my neck connects to my head,” Kehoe said Thursday morning. “The next thing I knew I was on the ground and about seven people were around me.

“As the color commentators so eloquently say: Down goes Frazier.”

Webster City players (left to right) Ty McKinney, Devon Stoakes, Trey Lyons and Chase Rattenborg show their concern as head coach Adison Kehoe is tended to following his collapse Wednesday evening in Hampton. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

After being attended to for approximately 30 minutes as his players stood stoically inside the dugout with their eyes trained on him, Kehoe was transported by ambulance to nearby Franklin General Hospital.

Kehoe, a 2007 WCHS graduate, said he was given IV fluids at the hospital, and also relayed that his blood pressure was high and his potassium level was low. No official diagnosis was given and Kehoe was eventually released from the hospital in time to return to the park. He watched the sixth and seventh innings from near the right field corner.

Kehoe has suffered from seizures in the past, but says it’s been several years since his last one and Wednesday’s episode had nothing to do with that part of his medical history. High blood pressure runs in his family, and he knows he needs to pay more attention to his own health moving forward.

“I am my own worst enemy when it comes to a lot of this stuff,” he said. “I need to do better at taking care of what I need to.”

The game resumed in the top of the second inning following Kehoe’s departure. Assistant coach Jordan Moen directed the Lynx the remainder of the way.

Hampton-Dumont/CAL took a 5-0 lead in the top of the third, but 10th-ranked (Class 3A) WCHS regained its composure and went on to win 15-9.

Kehoe said he felt bad that his condition became the central theme of the night, but he was also thankful for all of the support from both dugouts and from the Hampton community.

“You never want something like this to happen because these kids work their butts off,” he said. “You never want to individually take away any spotlight from what these kids have rightfully earned. But it didn’t matter if you wore purple and gold or black and red, people genuinely cared. It was people taking the time and care to make sure another individual was OK and I’m very thankful for that.”

Kehoe says he has a follow-up doctor’s appointment within the next two weeks. As for his duties as the Lynx head coach, he’s taking it on a day-by-day basis. He may be back in the third-base box tonight when WCHS hosts Carroll, or he may have to sit it out.

“Today I do feel better, but I don’t feel my best,” he said. “Tomorrow, we’ll see where that goes. But the big thing right now is I have to approach it as a day by day thing. I’m not entirely sure what the next step is, but my goal is to mentally and physically get back to neutral.”

WCHS improved to 16-1 with the win, and that allowed Kehoe to travel home feeling somewhat better.

“To back pocket what happened and to still go out and get it, that shows what kind of team they are,” he said. “This is a group that you want to go out of your way to be around.”