Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Baseball Social Media

A pair of old rivals got together for a non-conference baseball contest on the diamond Friday in Wellman and it was the No. 2 in Class 2A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks that scored a 7-3 win over the No. 6 Williamsburg Raiders. Early on, action favored the Raiders, as Golden Hawk starting pitcher Alex Bean and his defense tried to settle in. Williamsburg opened the game with a pair of unearned runs in the first as Madox Doehrmann delivered a run scoring hit. Mid-Prairie responded with a single run in the second when Brock Harland started the frame with a single and came home on a set baserunning play. The Raiders got that run back in the third with Trey O’Neil scoring on a Rayce Heitman RBI single. That would be the final Raider run of the night. In the third, Mid-Prairie tied it when Karson Grout came home following his double, on a Bean RBI single. Bean would score later in the frame. Mid-Prairie took the lead in the next inning, Joe Hall walked and came home on a Dylan Henry RBI single, Bean drove in two, scoring Cain Brown after a walk and Henry to make it 6-3 through four. Mid-Prairie got one more insurance run in the sixth when Bean came through with his third run scoring hit of the day, driving in Grout to make it 7-3.

The Hawks collected eight total hits to seven for the Raiders. Bean was three for three at the plate with four driven in. Henry added a hit, RBI and run scored, Karson Grout was two for three with two runs scored. On the hill, Bean was the winning pitcher, going four frames of four hit ball with three runs, one earned, walking four and striking out one. After the contest Bean spoke with KCII Sports about his performance on the hill and at the plate. Bean said, “I like to say that my pitching was the better part of my game today. My teammates had my back at the plate. I just went out there, competed, threw strikes and got out of some situations and ended up winning the ballgame. I try to throw strikes every single pitch and let my defense do the work. I have one of the best defenses in the state behind me. Our approach at the plate focused on the fastball, sticking to that approach and hitting it hard, driving in runs. It was a fun environment. It was great playing in front of this crowd against our rivals and come up with a win.”

The win is the sixth in the last seven for the Hawks over the Raiders as they improve to 4-2 this year. Williamsburg drops to 5-3. Mid-Prairie is back in action this morning when they travel to West Branch.