After a slight delay courtesy of the weather Monday, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team is scheduled to get their season started tonight with a trip to the Quad Cities to take on Davenport West. The Golden Hawks were 27-7 a season ago, champions of the River Valley South Division with a 17-1 mark and never fell below No. 2 in any 2A poll issued by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association. They hit .313 as a team with 239 runs, 283 hits, and had an OBP of .435 with a .397 slug to go with 112 stolen bases, a 2.59 team ERA with 232 strikeouts, .215 opponent batting average and a 95% fielding percentage. Individually, six Hawks hit .300 or better led by Karson Grout’s .457 average and team leading 37 RBI, and 48 total hits. Cain Brown scored 37 times and Camron Pickard walked 26 times. Alex Bean, Brady Weber, Joe Hall, Brown and Brock Harland all finished hitting over .300. Grout returns, along with Weber, Hall and Harland at the dish. On the mound, The Hawks have to replace the tandem of Bean and Collin Miller who combined to go 13-2 in nearly 100 innings with a .197 opponent average, 114 strikeouts, and 2.10 ERA. Leaders back on the hill are Weber who was unbeaten at 5-0 with a 1.58 ERA and .174 opponent average in 31 innings pitched with 29 strikeouts and Brock Harland with a 4-0 record across 25 innings and 1.09 ERA. Landry Gingerich is also back after multiple wins last year. The Golden Hawks are ranked No. 6 in the Class 2A preseason poll.
