It’s opening day of the high school baseball season Monday and things get underway with an area battle in Wellman when the Highland Huskies travel to Mid-Prairie.
The Golden Hawks were 19-10 a season ago, finishing 13-5 in the River Valley Conference, champions of the South Division. The Golden Hawks finished in the top 10 of Class 2A last year with 169 walks, sixth most, .458OBP ninth best, and 174 total RBI 10th best. They hit .306 as a team with 219 total hits, and 200 runs scored. Mid-Prairie posted a 3.12 ERA as a staff and a 1.58WHIP, and opponents hitting .235 against them. The Golden Hawks had five All-River Valley Conference selections last season with two returning including RVC Player of the Year Tatem Telfer and First-teamer Brady Weber. Both Telfer and Weber were also All-District choices. They each did damage on the mound and at the plate. Telfer finished the year hitting .382 with an OPS over 1000, five homers, second most in 2A, 31 RBI, 10th in 2A, 34 total hits, and 25 runs scored, while on the mound, he went 5-1 with 70 strikeouts in 29 innings and a 1.95 ERA. For Weber, he hit .318 with 27 runs, 27 hits, and 17 driven in. He was 3-2 as a pitcher with a 1.78ERA and 45 punchouts in 35 frames. The Hawks will have to replace eight total seniors including all-conference selections Bowen Burmeister, Brock Harland and Luke Trateow. Mid-Prairie is ranked No. 14 in the first Class 2A poll of the year from IAbaseball. Golden Hawk head coach Kyle Mullet joined KCII sports this week to talk about what has him excited for the upcoming year.
Mullet says, “We have a core group of seniors that are veteran guys. That’s very very important to this program. We’re going to need that this season. That mixed in with some big positions that are going to need to be filled by some young guys is exciting. We’re not just coming out with the same set of guys, it’s going to be a good mix!”
Highland was 11-14 last year, 8-3 and second in the Southeast Iowa Superconference North Division. Collectively, the Huskies were .247 at the plate with a .386OBP, 159 total hits, 142 runs scored and 105RBI. On the mound, Highland had a 5.42 staff ERA, with a 1.87WHIP, and .277 opponent average, giving up 198 hits, 130 earned runs and striking out 144. The Huskies had eight All-Superconference selections last year and they all return including average leader William Dunbar at .373, Logan McFarland who tied Dunbar with a team best 28 hits and knocked in a Highland best 18. ERA and innings leader Colten Sypherd returns after 40 innings with three wins and a 2.07 last season. That trio is joined by All-Conference returners Garrett Beeson, Landon Roling, Ryker Miller, Bryce Hazlett and Caleb Wheeler. This week, Huskies head coach Allen Rath talked with KCII Sports about what he’s looking forward to with this group.
Rath said, “I’ll tell you what I told them ‘I think you have the potential to make some noise!’ I think our strongest point is that we are pretty good on pitching for the 1A level. We have lefties and righties that can pound strike zone. If we can find some hitters to have some breakout years, we can make some noise!”
Mid-Prairie won this matchup last year in the season opener 16-1. You can hear all of the action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, from Paul N. Bailey Field in Wellman, beginning with the KCII local baseball pregame show at 4:30p.m. And first pitch between the Hawks and Huskies at 5p.m.