The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team is ready for the big stage in Des Moines Monday when they open the 2020 class 2A state tournament. The Golden Hawks come into play with an overall record of 15-3. The co-champions of the River Valley Conference advanced to the state tournament with a 9-7 win over Central Lee on Wednesday in Mediapolis in the substate round of the playoffs. Mid-Prairie was led in that game by Karson Grout with two RBI. Kayden Reinier got the win on the mound, Collin Miller recorded the save. The Golden Hawks are ranked No. 6 in the final poll of the season issued by the Iowa Baseball Coaches Association.

For the season. the Golden Hawks are hitting .329 as a team, eighth in the state, led by Aidan Rath at .562, third best in the state. Rath has a team best 29 RBI on 27 hits. Brad Tornow leads the Golden Hawks and is third in the state with 31 runs scored. On the mound, the Golden Hawks have a 2.66 team ERA, led by Keegan Gingerich at 1.38 with a 5-0 overall record in 30 innings of work. This week, Mid-Prairie head coach Andy Greiner talked about qualifying for state and what the Hawks need to do in Des Moines to be successful. “It’s been a long time coming. This is a program-wide event that turns the tables. We have a lot of kids now with a lot of experience and the ability to pass that on. It’s going to boost the program for years to come. It feels great. I was in the dugout at Principal Park the last time we were up there. I have been to every state tournament that Mid-Prairie baseball has ever been a part of and I’m proud to lead this group of guys there. We’re going to try to attack offensively, throw strikes and play clean defense. If we hit the ball the way we’re capable of, we’re going to be a handful for anybody.”

West Lyon comes into the game with an overall record of 14-3. The Wildcats were outright champions of the Siouxland Conference with a 7-1 mark in league play. They advanced to the state tournament with a 3-0 win over Unity Christian last week, led by Jalyn Gramstad with two hits and two RBI. He also threw a complete game shut out, striking out 11. For the season, the Wildcats are hitting .343 as a team, sixth best in Iowa in 2A. They are led at the plate by Logan Meyer with a .462 average. He has a team best 24 hits, 23 runs scored and 22 RBI. On the hill the Wildcats have a 2.04 ERA, ninth in the state, led by Jalyn Gramstad with a 5-1 record in 35 innings with a one even ERA. This will be the first ever matchup between the two schools. You can hear all of the action live this afternoon from Principal Park in Des Moines on all KCII signals, apps and live streamed at KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 2 p.m. and first pitch at 2:30.