The No. 4 ranked Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team made it two district titles in a row and two wins over rivals in the 2021 playoff run, but it wasn’t without some drama Saturday night at Paul N. Bailey Field in Wellman as the Golden Hawks scored a come-from-behind walk-off victory over Williamsburg 5-4.
The Raiders controlled things most of the night, not allowing Mid-Prairie a lead until the final run had scored on the walk-off in the seventh. The Raiders put up one run in the first with Kaden Gryp singling and coming around. Raider starter Trey O’Neill looked determined to make that lone run stand up as he held Mid-Prairie off the board until the fifth. In the fifth frame, Williamsburg increased their advantage to 3-0 when two unearned runs came home on a bases loaded fielding error with two away. The Golden Hawks would erase the entire Raider lead in the bottom half when Keegan Gingerich delivered a two out, bases loaded single that snuck through the left side and was bobbled in left to clear the bases and tie the game at three. The Mid-Prairie momentum was short lived however as the top of the Raider order put Williamsburg back on top with a one out O’Neill triple followed by a Gryp RBI double before the Golden Hawks could stop the threat
Down 4-3 with six outs left, the Golden Hawks were turned away in the sixth. Collin Miller did the same on the mound for Mid-Prairie to the Raiders in the seventh setting up the drama in the bottom half. Down to their final three outs of the season, Mid-Prairie opened their last at bat with a Karson Grout double to right center. He advanced to third on a passed ball. Aidan Rath then delivered an RBI single that tied the game at four. Rath was followed by an infield hit from Gingerich, and a single from Vinnie Bowlin to load the bases for sophomore Collin Miller. The Raiders went all in, bringing their ace, Nile Sinn out of the pen and pulling the seven fielding positions behind him in to try to cut down a game winning run at the plate, but it was all for naught as Miller calmly dug in and smashed the first pitch through the right side past a diving Kaden Cook at first base and the celebration was on. After the game Miller talked about the final at bat, celebration, and his night on the mound. “I got up there, I was thinking look first pitch. He’s a young pitcher, he’s probably going to give me something here. He gave me one so I drove it. I was happy I got it in play, that’s for sure. It was down, a ground ball, so I was pretty sure the run was going to score. It’s great to beat Williamsburg. They beat us in a lot of sports but anytime you can get a win over them it’s great. Pitching for me, it was a lot of two-seam fast balls. The tailing movement kept them off balance. Trust my defense, I have a great defense behind me. Tuesday we have to make sure we keep hitting the ball, throw strikes and make the defensive plays in the field.”
He finished one for three with the game winning RBI and was also the game’s winning pitcher, working two frames out of the pen, allowing three hits, one run and striking out one. Gingerich went two for three with two RBI, Will Cavanagh was two for three, Cain Brown had a hit and a run scored, and Rath had a hit, drove in one, and scored the game winning run. This is Mid-Prairie’s second district title in as many years and the first time the Hawks have completed the feat back to back since 2006 and 2007. The No. 4 Golden Hawks are now 19-7 on the year. They will be in the class 2A substate six final Tuesday at Dick Sojka Memorial Field in Washington against Davis County who was a 5-4 upset winner over No. 12 Eddyville-Blakesburg in the district 12 championship game. The Mustangs are 14-18 on the season. You can hear all of the action between Mid-Prairie and Davis County live on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com Tuesday night, beginning with the pregame show at 6:30 and the Premier Shed Shop and Champion Metal Supply first pitch at 7p.m.