After a tough walk off loss to Regina Catholic in game one of a doubleheader, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks have won 10 in a row, starting with Regina that same night. Now, in the final Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association 2A rankings, the Hawks sit at number two in the state, only behind Van Meter. 

After doubleheader wins over West Liberty, the Hawks took a break to beat Fairfield 11-4 before traveling to West Liberty to finish the season series. The Hawks would win 7-3 over the Comets with brooms in hand.

Unfortunately, play was halted in the top of the fourth inning as West Liberty sophomore Tytan Griffith went down with an injury while playing second base. A grounded ball took a late bounce and struck Griffith. Griffith needed an ambulance to drive onto the diamond and escort him as his apparent concussion prevented him from walking off the diamond. 

This scary moment came with Mid-Prairie up just 4-3 as West Liberty was in the midst of a fully-fledged comeback. The moment brought a different atmosphere to the game, one that wouldn’t quite go away. 

The question looms on if the game should’ve been called at four innings, but play did resume, nonetheless. Afterall, Mid-Prairie is trailed by West Liberty who is second in the River Valley – South conference. The Comets wanted the upset win.

The Hawks started the scoring in the top of the first. With the bases loaded, sophomore Landry Gingerich rolled a sacrifice ground out to score one. Sophomore Brady Weber followed with a sacrifice fly. 

Gingerich would bring home another in the second by walking with two outs and the bases loaded, coming after senior Cain Brown dropped an RBI single. 

The Comets would score three in the third with senior Alex Bean on the mound. Bean earned the quality win with six innings pitched while only giving up three runs (two earned). He struck out 11 Comets and walked just one. Sophomore Conner Wiles came in the seventh inning to shut the door. 

After the fourth inning resumed, junior Karson Grout brought home Brown with a sacrifice groundout. Bean would go on to strike out eight of the final 10 batters he faced, walking one and allowing a flyout to another. It took just 12 pitches for Bean to retire the side in the fifth, two three-pitched strikeouts.

The Hawks would score two more runs, a sacrifice groundout by Brown in the sixth and an RBI triple by junior Brock Harland in the seventh. 

Mid-Prairie 12, Durant 11 6/23

Following the win over West Liberty and Fairfield, the Hawks returned home to play the Durant Wildcats on June 23. In a carnival affair, the Hawks won 12-11. 

Durant took the early 6-0 lead after two innings. Mid-Prairie scored two in the third, six in the fourth to claim the 8-6 lead. 

By the top of the seventh, Mid-Prairie held an 11-7 lead. Not too comfortable yet padded. Durant clawed their way back into it with a fourth-run rally in the seventh. 

The tie would not remain for long. Mid-Prairie walked off in the bottom of the seventh to win their eighth straight game in a row. Brown led the Hawks in this one, placing three hits with four RBIs. Harland swapped his typical role of catcher, pitching on the mound and striking out four through five innings. The Hawks amassed 15 hits with Brown knocking a homer. 

Mid-Prairie @ Durant 

doubleheader 6/26

Durant gave Mid-Prairie trouble at home, but the Hawks handled business on the road with a 8-0 win and a 8-2 win, sweeping the Wildcats on the year and increasing the win streak to 10, a 22-6 record. 

The Hawks hope to continue their success, yet not look too far into the future. 

“We want to be playing our best baseball, but we’re [focused] about today. Today’s done,” head coach Kyle Mullet said. “Playoff time comes, it’s great, we’ll worry about that when the day comes. So, with every day forward, we want to get better. Hopefully, we’ll be playing our best baseball towards the postseason.” 

The Hawks are slated to have a first-round bye to start the playoffs. They’ll take on either Tipton or Wilton depending on that game’s outcome on July 5. Closing the regular season, the Hawks have Washington on June 28, Tipton in a makeup game June 29 and Cascade on June 30.