The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team scored a key non-conference win Tuesday in Fairfield, toppling the Trojans, 12-6. The Hawks opened the game with a one run first when Brady Weber came in on RBI contact from Bowen Burmeister. Three more scored in the third with eight batters seeing the plate. Weber, Tatem Telfer and Blake Swart all came home, with Burmeister stroking the RBI single and the Trojans helping the cause with an error.

In the fourth, the Fairfield offense, ranked in the top 10 of 3A in hits and average, got the sticks going with two runs that included a Dain Burkhart RBI single to cut the Golden Hawk lead in half. Fairfield added a single tally in the fifth when Sam Wheaton drove in Caden Allison to make it 4-3. Fairfield took their first lead of the day, 6-4, in the sixth when three Trojans raced around the bases. The inning featured four Golden Hawk errors and runs from Tallon Bates, Luke Konczal and Aiden Westercamp. Down to their final three outs, trailing by a pair, the Mid-Prairie offense came through in the clutch again. The Hawks sent 14 to the plate, scoring eight times, to recapture the lead and blow the game wide open at 12-6. Mid-Prairie turned away the Trojans in the bottom of the seventh, using a 1-6-3 double play to secure the final two outs of the victory.

Golden Hawks of the Game, Landry Gingerich and Bowen Burmeister joined KCII Sports live on the postgame show, to talk about their nights and the team win.

Burmeister said, “They were throwing me pitches to hit, and I just went early in the count. I waited for mine. It was important to dominate the fastball. They were throwing a lot of fastballs to us and Coach Mullet is always talking about hitting low line drives. Fairfield was having trouble finding the zone and we were patient at the plate. When they threw us a strike we were able to hit it hard. Coach Mullet is always talking about ‘living in the present’. Before that (seventh inning rally) we had a few miscues, I had a few miscues, but we were able to battle back from that. Being a part of a rally like that is always awesome. The dugout really gets going. Our dugout guys are great!”

Gingerich added, “(Coming out of the bullpen) it’s important to pound the zone and throw strikes. Let your defense make the play behind you. It feels pretty good out there. When you see it out of your hand you can usually tell right away where it’s going to be and what’s going to happen. The feeling when blue rings him up is a pretty good one. (In the seventh) we got the bases loaded and no outs so, a lot of us were going straight to our two strike approach, just to put the ball in play. It was great coming back at the end. This is a good Fairfield team and it’s a great feeling to come back like that!”

The Hawks out hit Fairfield 12-5. Burmeister led the way with three hits and five RBI to go with a run scored. Telfer and Joe Hall each had two hits and scored twice. Hall drove in one. Weber and Blake Swart also scored twice each. Nine different Golden Hawks crossed home plate in the win. On the mound, Gingerich went three innings in relief to get the win, giving up four runs, none earned, walking and striking out one each on five hits. Burmeister threw the first four of the night. Bates was saddled with the loss for his two and a third inning appearance out of the pen, giving up three hits, five earned runs, three walks and a strikeout. Mid-Prairie has won five straight over Fairfield and is now 14-7 on the season, looking ahead to a home Thursday date with West Liberty. Fairfield is 14-8 and goes to Mt. Pleasant Thursday.