WELLMAN

Mid-Prairie struck sharply and quickly Wednesday night.

Hosting Wilton in a Class 2A baseball district semifinal, the second-ranked Golden Hawks scored in every inning and ended it with a run-scoring hit in the fifth inning to clinch a 10-0 win.

“We wanted to get this over as soon as we can,” Golden Hawks head coach Kyle Mullet said.

And that’s because Mid-Prairie hosts Durant in the District 9 championship game Saturday at 7 p.m. Wednesday’s game, shorted by a 10-run mercy rule, allowed the Golden Hawks to use just one pitcher, senior Collin Miller.

Miller struck out seven and allowed just two hits.

Brady Weber, a sophomore, had a game-high three hits, and Dylan Henry and Brock Harland each had two.

But the hitting highlight came in the fourth inning when Joe Hall slammed a ball toward the outfield fence for a triple, scoring two Mid-Prairie runs, then scored himself on an error and was mobbed at home by his teammates.

The win was the 14^th in a row for the Golden Hawks (26-6), who are just two victories away from making it to the 2A state tournament field for the second straight year.

Durant (14-12) defeated West Liberty 6-1 Wednesday to advance to the district final.

“They are a scary team,” Mullet said of Durant. “They’re one of the best-hitting teams in 2A.”

The Wildcats have lost four of their last five games, including three straight to Mid-Prairie by a combined 28-13 in the final week of June.

The game is a matchup of four of the five best hitters in the River Valley South. Mid-Prairie’s Karson Grout is No. 2 with a .444 batting average and Alex Bean is No. 4 at .394. Durant’s Connor Schwarz is No. 1 at .446 and teammate Brady Meincke is No. 5 at .392.

See next week’s News for more details on Mid-Prairie baseball.