The hits keep coming, literally and figuratively, for the No. 5 in Class 2A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team as they broke out the brooms on the Wilton Beavers Monday at Paul N. Bailey Field in Wellman. The Golden Hawks got the conference sweep by scores of 9-5 and 2-1. In game one, Wilton climbed ahead with a single run in their first at-bat. Mid-Prairie answered with two in the bottom. The lead ballooned to 6-1 after a 10 batter, four run second, with RBI from Brady Weber, Brock Harland and Luke Traetow. Two more went on the board in the fourth, but Wilton wouldn’t go away. Trailing 8-1, the Beavers made it interesting with three in the fifth and another in the sixth to pull within 8-5. The Golden Hawks got a final insurance run in the sixth and turned things over to Kale Miller. Making his first varsity appearance, the freshman was phenomenal, earning a nine out save out of the bullpen. In total, the Hawks out hit the Beavers 7-5 and drew 12 walks. Seven of the nine in the Mid-Prairie order had a hit and seven of the nine scored a run. Brady Weber, Tatem Telfer, Bowen Burmeister, Brock Harland and Landry Gingerich all drove in a run. Blake Swart, Brady Weber, Telfer, Burmeister, Harland, Gingerich and Joe Hall each had a hit and Weber and Telfer led with two runs scored. Telfer got the win on the mound, working four innings, allowing one run and striking out eight with seven walks.
The nightcap was a pitchers dual with the Hawks walking-off Wilton 2-1. The two starters, Mid-Prairie’s Brady Weber and Wilton’s Landyn Putman went toe-to-toe through five, neither blinked, continually answering with zeros on the board. In the sixth, Wilton broke through, capitalizing on a base hit and two Mid-Prairie errors, the Beavers went in front 1-0. In the bottom of the sixth, Hall got the Golden Hawks even with a clutch, two-out, RBI single to score Burmeister and tie the game at one. The next inning, Henry sent the Hawk fans home happy. One out, bases full, the Golden Hawk third baseman roped the game winner to left to drive in Blake Swart and the celebration was on. After the doubleheader sweep, KCII sports caught up with the Golden Hawks of the night, Henry, Hall and Miller to talk about the wins and their performances.
Henry said, “I was just looking for something I could put in play. I wanted to hit it hard and low. We only had one out so I just knew I had to put the ball in play. He hung a curveball and my eyes lit up. I was like ‘this should be really easy’. I got a barrel on it and sent it to the outfield. It’s a great feeling! I’m happy for my teammates and everybody that we got the win. The celebration was really fun.”
Hall continued, “I was just trying to put the ball in play. Two outs, runners in scoring position, that’s all you’re trying to do. It can be a little nerve-racking. I saw it go to the right side, I was just hoping it would get over the first basemen’s head. I was hoping that Bowen (Burmeister) had the burners on, going as fast as he can to score, and he got there in plenty of time.”
Miller added, “That was my first time going into a varsity game so, I was a little nervous and sweating a little bit more than usual. Bases were loaded. They just told me to throw strikes with how good our defense is behind me. That was all I really did. Our defense made plays. Most of the time my fastball was right in the strike zone. I was just trying to find my spots.”
Mid-Prairie had seven hits as a team. The Webers, brothers Brady and Brooks, combined to go all seven on the mound, giving up just two hits, two walks and striking out seven. Brooks was the winning pitcher working one inning of relief. Burmeister led the way at the plate with three hits, Henry and Hall had an RBI each and Swart and Burmeister scored for the Hawks. With the sweep, Mid-Prairie has now won six in a row, and improves to 8-0 in conference play, 10-1 on the season, ahead of a Tuesday non-conference meeting with Solon in Wellman. Wilton is now 4-5 on the year.