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The No. 13 in Class 2A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team is heating up. The Hawks made it five wins-in-a-row with a River Valley Conference road sweep at West Branch Monday. Mid-Prairie took game one 19-1. The Hawks posted five runs in the first, eight in the second, and six more in the third to end the game in four innings. All nine in the lineup scored a run, seven of the nine had a hit, and six of the nine drove someone in. The Hawks out hit the Bears 13-1. Brady Weber belted a grand slam and knocked in five, scoring twice. Jason Heitman had three hits, two driven in and scored three times. Landry Gingerich, Cash Brown and Gentry Bontrager each had two hits, Heitman, Bontrager and Brown drove in two each. Tatem Telfer and Gingerich each had an RBI. Blake Swart, Brooks Weber, Telfer, Conner Wiles and Bontrager all scored twice. Brady Weber did the work on the mound, going all four, allowing a hit, a run, three walks and punching out 10.

The nightcap was more of the same in a Golden Hawk 9-2 win. Mid-Prairie struck for one in the second, five in the fourth, another in the fifth and two more in the seventh. The Bears got their two runs in the seventh. Mid-Prairie out hit West Branch 10-3 and drew three walks. Gingerich had a three hit game, knocking in three. Brooks Weber and Telfer each added two hits, Weber smacked a solo homer and Telfer scored four times. Swart, Heitman, Conner Wiles and Cecil Kelley each had an RBI. Brooks Weber went five shut out innings on the hill, giving up one hit, four walks and striking out five. Landry Gingerich recorded the final six outs. After the game he and Heitman joined the KCII postgame show to talk about the big night.

Gingerich said, “We were hunting fastball. You need to find your pitch in the zone early in the count, and if you get to two strikes, doing what you can to put the ball in play and do your job. When you have a big inning in the beginning of the game, you can rally off of that and it sets the tone for the whole. My second at bat, I roped a line drive and it set the tone for me for the rest of the night. One guy gets a big piece and everybody rallies around them.” 

Heitman added, “Hunting fastball, that’s the best pitch to hit, early in the count, and we were able to do that tonight. It’s important to add on insurance runs because anything can happen. I got a hit on an off-speed pitch, and it felt great. One person is very successful, then the rest of us want to do the same things. It’s a great group of guys!”

The win is the Hawks fifth in a row and propels them to 7-1 this year, 4-1 in conference, as the Bears drop to 1-8 overall and 0-7 in the RVC. Mid-Prairie is back on the diamond Thursday to host West Branch in Wellman.