The high school baseball and softball season gets underway on Monday and the Mid-Prairie baseball team is ready to take the field. The Hawks are coming off of a 2019 season that saw them finish with an 18-12 overall record. They were 12-7 in the River Valley South Division. Their best stretch of the season came in the final week of June and first week of July when they won seven of nine games including victories over West Branch, Anamosa, Bellevue, Williamsburg, Benton, Wilton and Monticello.

At the plate, Mid-Prairie had a team average of .260, sixth in the RVC. Brad Tornow led Mid-Prairie hitting .417 in his junior season with 43 hits, 32 runs scored and 12 RBI. His average was sixth best in the conference.

On the mound, Mid-Prairie had a 3.40 team ERA, third best in the RVC south. Tornow led Mid-Prairie there also, posting a 7-0 record and 1.02ERA in 55 innings of work with a conference best 102 strikeouts. The Golden Hawk staff brings back all of their pitchers who saw action last year but one. This week, Mid-Prairie head coach Andy Greiner talked about his veterans and the strengths of this year’s team. “We have third team all-state pitcher Brad Tornow coming back. One of the best pitchers in the state statistically speaking. Brody Miller is our other captain. Aidan Rath hit six bombs last year and .333 with an impressive arm. Keegan Gingerich is our returning shortstop and number two pitcher. Kayden Reinier, second team all-district pitcher, will be our closer, he’s a tough kid. Vinny Bowlin was a second team all-conference catcher who is back. We return a lot of pieces, we are fortunate to be a veteran group in a shortened season. Pitching is going to be a strength again this season. Maybe even more than previous seasons. The offense will be improved and develop during the year.”

The Golden Hawks open the season Monday when they host Northeast Goose Lake in Wellman.