MID-PRAIRIE BASEBALL ROUNDUP

Golden Hawks hold off Monticello in River Valley showdown

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 6/17/22

MONTICELLO

Mid-Prairie won a River Valley crossover showdown Thursday night.

The Golden Hawks entered their game at Monticello with a No. 8 ranking in Class 2A and clearly in the middle of …

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MID-PRAIRIE BASEBALL ROUNDUP

Golden Hawks hold off Monticello in River Valley showdown

Posted

MONTICELLO

Mid-Prairie won a River Valley crossover showdown Thursday night.

The Golden Hawks entered their game at Monticello with a No. 8 ranking in Class 2A and clearly in the middle of a dogfight in the River Valley South for a third consecutive divisional title. Monticello had won eight straight and the Panthers were on the verge of getting into the Top 10 rankings.

The Golden Hawks scored four runs in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie and added two more runs in the seventh inning to finish off a 7-5 victory, their third win in four games.

Karson Grout had three hits, scored twice and drove in two runs for the Golden Hawks. Cain Brown, Alex Bean and Tyler Helmuth each had a pair of hits.

Helmuth had a leadoff double in the fifth inning to start Mid-Prairie’s four run rally.

Freshman pitcher Brady Weber gave up just three hits in 5.1 innings to get the win on the pitching mound. Senior reliever Will Cavanagh pitched the final inning and recorded the final out with the bases loaded.

Mid-Prairie 10

West Branch 6

The Golden Hawks scored three runs in the second and third innings, and cruised to a River Valley win at West Branch on Wednesday.

Karson Grout had two hits and drove in a pair of runs for Mid-Prairie.

Will Cavanagh also had two hits and Cain Brown drove in two runs with a double.

Grout, a University of Iowa commit, struck out 8 and did not give up a hit in four innings.

West Branch (5-9) scored one run in the fifth inning, two runs in the six and three in the seventh, but the Bears were held off by relief pitchers Bowen Burmeister and Joe Hall.

Anamosa 8

Mid-Prairie 7

Anamosa’s Ky Kaufmann was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh inning, forcing in a run and giving the Blue Raiders (9-6) an 8-7 victory over Mid-Prairie on Tuesday in Anamosa.

The Golden Hawks led 7-5 going into the final inning, but Anamosa rallied for the win against Mid-Prairie reliever Cain Brown.

Brock Harland and Dylan Henry each drove in two runs for Mid-Prairie.

Mid-Prairie 10

Tipton 0

After losing four consecutive games, one of them by a shutout and two of them by one run, Mid-Prairie’s baseball team needed a slugfest.

The Golden Hawks found one Monday night.

And it was certainly one-sided.

Cain Brown and Karson Grout each had three hits, leading the Golden Hawks to a 10-0 River Valley Conference win over Tipton in a game played in Wellman.

The victory broke the Golden Hawks’ longest losing streak since 2018. They also hit double figures in scoring for the first time since a 12-3 win at Williamsburg on May 27.

Mid-Prairie scored in every inning, beginning with two runs in each of the first two innings. The Golden Hawks closed out the game with a run in the fifth inning for the 10-run victory.

Grout, a University of Iowa commit, had two doubles among his three hits. He drove in two runs and scored twice.

Brown and Camron Pickard also scored twice.

Freshman pitcher Brady Weber struck out 6 in 5 innings. He gave up just one hit and won his second game of the season.

A four-game road trip this week takes the Golden Hawks to West Branch on Wednesday, Monticello on Thursday and Dennison-Schleswig on Friday. The trip began Tuesday at Anamosa.

Cascade 3

Mid-Prairie 0

Three Mid-Prairie pitchers combined to hold Cascade to four hits, but the Cougars still managed to score twice in the third inning and once in the fourth inning for a 3-0 win in a River Valley Conference crossover showdown June 9.

The Golden Hawks were ranked No. 4 in Class 2A at the time and Cascade was No. 10. Cascade’s win helped vault the Cougars to No. 3 in this week’s rankings and Mid-Prairie dropped to No. 8.

Collin Miller and Will Cavanagh had two hits for Mid-Prairie, but the Golden Hawks could not score against Cascade pitcher Jack Carr, who ranks second in the River Valley North in wins (3) and earned-run average (0.66).

“Their pitcher did a good job of not walking guys,” Mid-Prairie head coach Kyle Mullet said. “They played very clean baseball. We had some hard-hit ground balls, some deep line drives that they made plays on, stole a couple doubles from us there.”

Carr gave up one walk and struck out five in a complete-game shutout.

Alex Bean started for Mid-Prairie, and was relieved by Brady Weber and Landry Gingerich.

“We pitched it well, did what we needed to do,” Mullet said.

Regina 2

Mid-Prairie 1

Regina Catholic scored two runs in the fourth inning to top the Golden Hawks in a game played June 8 in Iowa City.

The Golden Hawks were able to get just three hits off Regina junior pitcher Jack Tierney, who struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.

“Offensively, just can’t string our hits together,” Mullet said. “We’re just sticking to the process, working on our hitting and sticking to it. It’ll come.”

Mid-Prairie junior pitcher Collin Miller gave up just five hits and struck out five.

“Collin Miller pitched one heck of a game,” Mullet said.

Cain Brown had two hits and scored Mid-Prairie’s only run in the opening inning.

Lancer Invitational

Mid-Prairie dropped a pair of games in the Lancer Invitational held June 11 at North Scott High School in Eldridge, 18-8 to Cedar Falls and 4-3 to Burlington Notre Dame.

Senior outfielder Will Cavanagh had three hits in the two games.

Cedar Falls (14-4), which is ranked fourth in Class 4A and also defeated host North Scott on Saturday, piled up 14 hits against five Mid-Prairie pitchers. Senior first baseman Ben Phillips had three hits, including a home run, and drove in seven runs.

Brock Harland, Dylan Henry and Tyler Helmuth each had two hits. Henry drove in three runs. Cavanagh and Brady Weber each scored twice.

In the third-place game, the Golden Hawks fell behind 4-0 to Burlington Notre Dame and couldn’t catch up. Mid-Prairie scored three runs in the sixth inning, but Notre Dame pitcher Caden Schwenker struck out all three Mid-Prairie batters in the seventh inning.

The Golden Hawks were held to five hits by three Notre Dame pitchers.

Mid-Prairie starting pitcher Brock Harland gave up just 3 hits in 4 innings and struck out two. The next two Golden Hawk pitchers, Henry and Blake Swart, didn’t give up any, but the Nikes (5-5) scored two runs in the fifth on a pair of bases-loaded walks.

Mid-Prairie 7

Solon 4

Cain Brown had two hits and drove in two runs, and pitched a scoreless inning in the Golden Hawks’ 7-4 win against Solon on June 7 in Wellman.

Mid-Prairie rallied from three runs down for the victory, scoring four runs in the fifth inning.

Alex Bean also had two hits for the Golden Hawks. Dylan Henry had two RBIs. Brock Harland walked three times and scored twice.

Solon (7-9) scored three times in the first inning to take an early lead, but the Golden Hawks answered with one run in the first and third innings. Trailing 4-2 in the fifth inning, the Golden Hawks scored four times to take a two-run lead and added another run in the sixth inning.

Sophomore pitcher Bowen Burmeister got the win in relief for the Golden Hawks, giving up just one hit and a run in three innings.

Solon totaled just three hits, but had 10 walks against four Mid-Prairie pitchers.

 

GAME STATS

MID-PRAIRIE 10, TIPTON 0

Tipton           000  00  --   0

Mid-Prairie   221  41  --  10

Mid-Prairie hits: Cain Brown 3, Karson Grout 3, Alex Bean, Brock Harland, Dylan Henry.

WP: Brady Weber (6 SO)

MID-PRAIRIE 7, SOLON 4

Solon            300  010  0  --  4   3   0

Mid-Prairie  101  041  x  --  7   8   1

Mid-Prairie hits: Cain Brown 2 (2 RBIs), Alex Bean 2, Collin Miller, Will Cavanagh, Tyler Helmuth, Brady Weber.

Solon hits: Blake Timmons, Brett White, Jackson Link.

WP: Bowen Burmeister

LP: Logan Gruchow

REGINA CATHOLIC 2, MID-PRAIRIE 1

Mid-Prairie  100   000   0 --  1   3   2

Regina           000  020   x --  2   6   1

Mid-Prairie hits: Cain Brown 2, Tyler Helmuth.

Regina hits: Jack Clark 2, Jack Tierney 2, Ethan VonHarz, Henry Bottorff.

WP: Tierney

LP: Collin Miller

CASCADE 3, MID-PRAIRIE 0

Mid-Prairie  000   000   0 --  0   6   2

Cascade       002  100   x --   3   4   2

Mid-Prairie hits: Collin Miller 2, Will Cavanagh 2, Cain Brown, Brock Harland.

Cascade hits: Cooper Hummel, Ty Frasher, Cass Hoffman, Justin Rolling.

WP: Jack Carr

LP: Alex Bean

CEDAR FALLS 18, MID-PRAIRIE 8

Mid-Prairie hits: Brock Harland 2, Dylan Henry 2, Tyler Helmuth 2, Will Cavanagh, Collin Miller, Bowen Burmeister, Brady Weber.

LP: Cain Brown

BURLINGTON NOTRE DAME 4, MID-PRAIRIE 3

Mid-Prairie             000   003   0 --  3

Burl-Notre Dame   200  020   x --   4

Mid-Prairie hits: Camron Pickard, Will Cavanagh, Joe Hall, Brady Weber, Bowen Burmeister.

Burlington-Notre Dame hits: Owen Gulick, Spencer Brent, Isaiah Crow.

WP: Payne Prottsman

LP: Brock Harland

 

Mid-Prairie, baseball, Monticello, Anamosa, West Branch