Getting to play at home after four road games the Golden Hawks welcomed a familiar opponent, the Regina Regals. This would be Mid-Prairie’s third straight contest versus the Regals. With each team holding one win over each other, this third game would be the rubber match. 

Not daunted by this challenge, the Golden Hawks took this all-important victory over their conference foe in commanding fashion, 7-0, on June 15. This win keeps Mid-Prairie atop of the River Valley Conference with a 10-1 conference record and a 14-6 record overall.  

“We want to win the series. We knew it would be a good game for the conference and obviously winning a conference championship is a big goal of ours. It’s something we want to do,” Mid-Prairie coach Kyle Mullet said about the importance of this conference game. “We’re taking that game by game and trying to focus on each series. We love the new schedule now, playing a series of games. I feel like it really gives us that competitive edge, between the teams that really go to battle. You can find out who is the better team at those times.”

Keeping Regina scoreless, it was the second time this season Mid-Prairie shut out its opponent. Whenever this happens one can imagine the defense was playing exceptionally well. This was the case for the Golden Hawks, and the defense that gave up zero points was spearheaded by senior pitcher Alex Bean. 

Bean played a stellar game versus the Regals, nearly pitching a no-hitter. Only giving up one hit in the seventh inning he ended his night with the win and nine total strikeouts. 

“Alex was feeling good tonight, he had his command, being able to locate with two strikes and get guys out, he just did an awesome job,” Mullet said. “He had a great defense behind him tonight. We had no errors and played clean defense. He put the ball in play for us and got strikeouts when he needed to. That last inning there just getting up in his pitch count, I hate to pull him in that situation, but it is what it is. We want to stay healthy and make sure he’s taken care of. So, we made that decision there and Gentry [Bontrager] came in, did an awesome job to close the door.”

Once a scoreless first inning ended the Golden Hawks would score four runs in the bottom of the second to take a permanent lead. Two of those four runs were brought in off senior Camron Pickard’s bat after he hit a single. 

After a top of the fourth that saw three up three down for Regina, Mid-Prairie would score once again in the bottom of the fourth. The run would be scored by Pickard after fellow senior Cain Brown hit a double. 

“I felt like we did an awesome job tonight and just being really patient at the plate swinging at good pitches,” Mullet said about the batting of his team against Regina. “I felt like we were comfortable in the box tonight with the two-strike hitting. We got two strikes in our bats 19 times; we struck out five times. And of those 19 we got on we successfully got on base eight of those 19. So, that’s a huge success rate. With two strikes and not coming back into the dugout. Any time you can do those types of things, you’re going to have good results.”

The Golden Hawks scored their final two runs in the sixth inning, and it was an inning that saw some quality hits transpire. Second up to bat in the inning Pickard would hit a triple. After the Regina pitcher balked, Pickard was allowed to walk home for the score. 

Senior Karson Grout would hit a double in the sixth, capping off his productive night. He hit a single in the second, making him the only Golden Hawk with multiple hits, for his lone RBI of the game and assisted on five outs on defense.    

“That’s what Karson does. He’s a great hitter. He’s in control of his bat. He can hit the baseball where it’s pitched. He had a great night tonight,” Mullet said about how well Grout played. “Not only him, I felt like Camreon Pickard came up with the big triple. He had an awesome night tonight. Cain Brown squeezed a double out there, just all around, good things. Alex Bean had a couple of good hard hit ground balls that scored some runs there. It was just an awesome job by our guys, trusting our approach and putting the baseball in play.”

Playing with vast faith in their abilities, Mid-Prairie knows they can compete with just about anybody. This confidence that is instilled in this Golden Hawks squad is something coach Mullet cultivates by teaching the fundamentals. 

“I feel like our guys, they know their ability. Physically, they have the tangibles and that’s what we work on early in the year. We really work on the fundamentals of the game, the basic fundamentals, the first few weeks there, and then we let it carry over into the game. Their confidence out there, they play with a clear mind and do an awesome job and that carries over.”

 Mid-Prairie 16, Treynor 2

Make it three-wins-in-a-row for the Golden Hawks who took the long trek west to battle the Treynor Cardinals. A near four-hour trip from Wellman to Treynor, Mid-Prairie took care of business on its lengthy road trip with a dominant 16-2 win on June 17. 

Wrapping up this game in five innings, Mid-Prairie scored multiple runs in every inning. After scoring twice in the first the Golden Hawks poured on the points by scoring four times in consecutive innings to take a 10-0 lead. 

The Cardinals would score two runs in the bottom of the fourth, but it came after Mid-Prairie tacked on three runs of its own in the top of the fourth. The Golden Hawks scored three more runs in the fifth and the game would officially come to a close, with Mid-Prairie taking a 14-point win. 

Pitching for Mid-Prairie in this decisive victory was junior Brock Harland and freshman Gentry Bontrager. Harland pitched in two innings, facing nine batters, and ended his day with three strikeouts. Bontrager, who recorded the win, also struck out three batters and pitched three innings. 

Scoring aplenty in this game the leading scorer for Mid-Prairie was senior Cain Brown. Brown ended this game with five runs scored and recorded two RBIs. Leading the team in RBIs with six was senior Karson Grout, who also had the team high in hits with four. 

Double Header

Mid-Prairie 3, West Liberty 2; MP 6, WL 3

The Golden Hawks picked up a pair of conference wins at home over the West Liberty Comets in a double header on June 19.  

These wins firmly establish Mid-Prairie as the top team in the River Valley Conference. They now have a 12-1 conference record and a 17-6 record overall. 

With the Comets being the second-place team in the RVC it was vital for the Golden Hawks to take these victories to stay atop the conference. 

The first game saw Mid-Prairie win a close one, 3-2. After a scoreless first two innings the Comets were able to take the lead by scoring twice in the top of the third. Responding in the bottom of the inning, Mid-Prairie would score three runs to take the lead and with no other runs being scored for the rest of the game this would end up being the final score. 

Driving in two runs for the Golden Hawks was senior Collin Miller. Scoring the three runs for Mid-Prairie were freshman Gentry Bontrager, sophomore Brady Weber, and senior Alex Bean. 

Miller would also serve as the pitcher for Mid-Prairie in this first game. He pitched all seven innings and recorded nine strikeouts.

The second game wouldn’t be as close, but the result would be the same, a Golden Hawk victory, 6-3. Mid-Prairie would score three times before the Comets put up their first scored run of the game in the top of the fourth, but the Golden Hawks would score twice in the bottom of the fourth to take a four-run lead.

West Liberty would cut its deficit to two after scoring two runs in the fifth, but those would be the last points the Comets would collect.

In this second game senior Karson Grout would put together an impressive performance. Grout would hit a home run, lead the team in RBIs with two, and score twice. 

Weber, who pitched four innings, collected the win for Mid-Prairie. He finished with five strikeouts, only allowing one hit. 

Mid-Prairie (17-6) faced off against Fairfield (9-15) on June 20. Up next for the Golden Hawks will be a rematch on the road against West Liberty (11-8) on June 22. They will then play Durant (11-8) in three games, with the first one taking place at home on June 23 and the next two being a road double header on June 26.