Photo Courtesy of the IAHSAA/IHSSN

The third biggest story from the most recent year for Mid-Prairie athletics takes us to the baseball diamond where the Hawks reached the final four in Class 2A. After an up-and-down regular season that at one point saw Mid-Prairie with a 13-10 record late in the year, the Hawks beat Bellevue and Washington to close the regular season before opening up the playoffs with a shut out of Cardinal 4-0 at Mediapolis where pitchers Karson Grout and Collin Miller were one out away from a no-hitter and Cain Brown drove in two. Then they crushed Van Buren for the district championship in Wellman 15-3 in just five innings behind 12 team hits, a grand slam and six RBI from Grout and with Miller as the winning pitcher before upsetting No. 6 West Marshall 3-1 at Spartan Stadium in Solon at substate to clinch a bid in Carroll. Miller got the substate win on the mound striking out 12 while Alex Bean, Dylan Henry and Tyler Helmuth each had an RBI.

At state, Mid-Prairie got revenge on No. 3 Cascade in the quarterfinals by a 3-2 score with Miller again recording the win on the hill, working six innings and striking out 10 while Brown, Bean and Helmuth each had two hits with Bean and Miller recording RBI. It was Mid-Prairie’s first baseball win at state since 2007. The Golden Hawks saw their stay at Merchants Park end in the semis of the 2A tournament, where despite jumping out to a 3-0 lead, No. 2 Estherville Lincoln Central knocked the Hawks out 7-4.

Four Golden Hawks were named all-River Valley Conference including Grout as an elite infielder and Brown as an elite outfielder. Miller was an All-South division pick on the mound and Will Cavanagh was honorable mention. He was also named Academic All-State while Grout, Brown and Bean were all-district choices.

Thursday’s sports page will focus on the second biggest story for Mid-Prairie during the most recent year and takes us to Drake Stadium in Des Moines for a state championship celebration.