Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie baseball social media

It was a wire-to-wire victory Wednesday at Paul N. Bailey Field in Wellman for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks over the Washington Demons. In a game heard on AM and FM KCII, the Hawks took the rivalry match by an 8-1 count. Mid-Prairie scored twice in the first with Karson Grout and Alex Bean driving in runs. The Golden Hawks added three each in the fourth and fifth innings, sending seven to the plate in each frame. In the fourth, Brady Weber drove in a run and Camron Pickard had an RBI double, in the fifth it was Grout with his second RBI hit of the day and Collin Miller bringing home a run on a fielders choice. On the other side of the ball, Grout was dominant on the hill for the Hawks, taking a perfect game into the fifth before it was broken up by a Matt Wolf two-out base hit. The Demons broke through with their run in the sixth when Isaac Vetter singled to lead it off and came home on a Lucas Kroll double against Mid-Prairie reliever Collin Miller. After the game, Mid-Prairie head coach Kyle Mullet talked about Grout’s big night and the importance of scoring early. “Karson (Grout) had his stuff and was able to locate early. He was working ahead. He’s progressively gotten better over his last three starts. His velocity also helps him. Trying to create momentum when you’re not scoring is a hard thing to do, so after last night against Bellevue we talked about getting a couple of runs, getting things to swing our way early. Tyler Helmuth I thought did an excellent job tonight behind the plate and put some balls in play. Camron Pickard had a good two-out double. Alex Bean had a good hit tonight. Will Cavanagh took charge in the outfield and game up with the big plays.”

Grout threw five innings of one hit ball to record the win, striking out six. He was two for three at the plate with a pair of triples, two RBI and a run scored. seven of the nine in the Mid-Prairie lineup scored a run. Washington got one hit each from Kroll, Ethan Zieglowsky, Wolf and Vetter. Avery Six took the loss working three and two thirds innings. Mid-Prairie ends the regular season at 15-10 and will open the playoffs Tuesday. Washington falls to 5-17 and travels to Keokuk for a doubleheader Thursday.