After a slight delay courtesy of the weather Monday, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team is scheduled to get their season started tonight with a trip to the Quad Cities to take on Davenport West. The Golden Hawks were 27-7 a season ago, champions of the River Valley South Division with a 17-1 mark and never fell below No. 2 in any 2A poll issued by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association. They hit .313 as a team with 239 runs, 283 hits, and had an OBP of .435 with a .397 slug to go with 112 stolen bases, a 2.59 team ERA with 232 strikeouts, .215 opponent batting average and a 95% fielding percentage. Individually, six Hawks hit .300 or better led by Karson Grout’s .457 average and team leading 37 RBI, and 48 total hits. Cain Brown scored 37 times and Camron Pickard walked 26 times. Alex Bean, Brady Weber, Joe Hall, Brown and Brock Harland all finished hitting over .300. Grout returns, along with Weber, Hall and Harland at the dish. On the mound, The Hawks have to replace the tandem of Bean and Collin Miller who combined to go 13-2 in nearly 100 innings with a .197 opponent average, 114 strikeouts, and 2.10 ERA. Leaders back on the hill are Weber who was unbeaten at 5-0 with a 1.58 ERA and .174 opponent average in 31 innings pitched with 29 strikeouts and Brock Harland with a 4-0 record across 25 innings and 1.09 ERA. Landry Gingerich is also back after multiple wins last year. The Golden Hawks are ranked No. 6 in the Class 2A preseason poll.

The 4A Falcons were 11-27 last season, 5-13 in the MAC Conference. They hit .265 as a team with 161 runs on 263 hits with 132 RBI, 174 walks, and 258 strikeouts with an OBP of .392. They had a team ERA of 4.97 with a .238 opponent average, 163 walks given up and 220 strikeouts with a 91% fielding percentage. They have to replace their top three hitters including Brady Hansen, Brent Haines and Caden Schaefer who combined to hit over .320 with 113 total hits, 74 runs scored, 58 walks and 49 RBI. Ashton Hazelett is the leader back with a .283 average last year as a junior with 28 hits, 13 runs scored, six RBI and five walks. On the mound, the top ERA trio return for the Falcons with Seamus DeVine, Tyler McCrery and Cayden Williams putting together a combined 3.20ERA in 62 innings with a 2-1 record, and .175 opponent batting average with 42 strikeouts. These two teams met in the 2023 opener with the Golden Hawks scoring a 6-4 comeback win in Wellman that included a late Karson Grout three-run homer. Action starts tonight at 7p.m. at Davenport West High School.