Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Baseball Social Media
They just seem to find a way. Tuesday’s substate win for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team over No. 6 West Marshall at Solon involved both execution and ad-libing, but in the end, the Hawks advanced to the state tournament with a 3-1 victory. The Mid-Prairie offense followed the script ‘to a t’. They got to Trojan starter Owen Siegert in the first inning for three runs on three hits. Siegert had given up just four runs all year with an ERA that ranked in the top 10 in 2A in Iowa. Cain Brown led off with a single, followed by a Brock Harland walk and a Karson Grout single to load the bases. Alex Bean walked to drive in Brown, Dylan Henry singled to score Harland and Helmuth grounded out to bring home Grout and before anyone had settled in it was 3-0 Mid-Prairie in the first half inning. The Hawks had to deviate from their plan in the bottom half.
Just one third of an inning into his substate start, Grout, a sophomore suffered an apparent arm injury, causing head coach Kyle Mullet to make an impromptu move to the pen for Collin Miller. Miller was simply magnificent. The junior, who recorded the save two years ago as a freshman at substate to send the Hawks to state, went six innings in relief, giving up just two hits, one run and walking three while striking out a dozen. With Miller on the mound, the Golden Hawks kept their 3-0 advantage into the fifth when West Marshall broke through on a walk, hit batter, and a sac fly to pull within 3-1. That’s where the score stood going to the seventh, when Miller was lifted for freshman Brady Weber who was called on to get the final two outs. With the tying run at the plate, Weber struck out Clay Cuva looking. After a hit by pitch to bring the winning run to the plate, Weber got a fly ball from cleanup hitter Parker Reese, that drove now left fielder Miller all the way back to the wall. Miller made the catch on the track to send the Hawks to Carroll. Miller talked on the KCII postgame show about his night on the mound and catching the final out. “Everything seem to be going great when I was warming up. I had that zone locked in. Curveball was working. I could locate a lot, they were swinging and missing. The pressure was on them after we got those first three runs. I knew I had a lead, a cushion. Pressure-free, stood up there, kept throwing, letting my defense back me. (On the last out), I heard Will (Cavanagh) yelling at me ‘back, back, back!’ I honestly didn’t even think about the fence. I caught it, and then I felt myself hit the warning track and I realized how close it really was. It was amazing. Just knowing that we did it. That we accomplished what we have been working for this whole season. The emotions, it was like last time, but better, since it’s the second time.”
Miller got the win and Weber the save. At the plate Bean, Henry and Helmuth each had an RBI. Brown, Harland and Grout each scored a run and Grout, Henry and Helmuth all had a hit. The victory sends Mid-Prairie back to the state tournament for the second time in three years, following their run to Des Moines in the 2020 season. It’s their sixth trip in school history, and runs their record to 18-10, No. 6 West Marshall ends their season at 28-9. Mid-Prairie will open the 2A state tournament in Carroll with a quarterfinal contest on Tuesday.