Golden Hawks pass opening day test at Muscatine

By Douglas Miles
Posted 5/24/22

MUSCATINE

For Kyle Mullet, replacing six starters seems like a daunting task.

While the second-year Mid-Prairie baseball coach liked what he saw throughout preseason practices, the real test …

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Golden Hawks pass opening day test at Muscatine

Posted

MUSCATINE

For Kyle Mullet, replacing six starters seems like a daunting task.

While the second-year Mid-Prairie baseball coach liked what he saw throughout preseason practices, the real test would arrive in the form of games against other teams.

A season opener against good Class 4A competition served as a solid barometer.

“A lot of good things,” Mullet said after Class 2A No. 3 Mid-Prairie trimmed Muscatine, 4-3, May 17 at Tom Bruner Field. “We learned a lot about some players that we weren’t quite sure. ... Had some holes to fill and some guys stepped up that we needed to step up.”

The win was the start of a 1-1 week for Mid-Prairie, which saw an impressive pitching performance by freshman Brady Weber (10 strikeouts in five shutout innings) undone by a lack of scoring in a 1-0 home loss Monday night to River Valley Conference foe West Branch.

Against Muscatine, Mullet was particularly pleased with Weber’s play in the outfield, plus sophomore third baseman Dylan Henry and freshman outfielder Blake Swart. All three made their varsity debuts against Muscatine and all three contributed. Swart recorded the final out of the game, Henry drove in a run with a one-out single in the third inning and Weber collected a hit and started a pivotal 7-6-2-5 double play that ended the fifth inning and erased Muscatine baserunners heading for home plate and third base, which preserved a 4-2 lead for the Golden Hawks.

“You look for those young guys to step up and do that,” Mullet said. “I was just really happy with the way that we came out, competed.”

Yet another player making an impact in his varsity debut was Brock Harland. The sophomore catcher – who figures to split time behind the plate with senior Tyler Helmuth – broke a scoreless tie and gave the Golden Hawks the lead for good with a two-run single in the top of the second inning against Muscatine.

“Coach Mullet always preps us in practice, ‘Put the ball in play, put pressure on the defense,’” said Harland, who finished the Muscatine win with two hits, reached base via a walk and also recorded a hit against West Branch. “That was goal there and I ended up finding the gap and scoring two runs. It was a big hit for us there.”

On the pitching mound, Mid-Prairie held the Muskies in check with a trio of solid performances. Junior Collin Miller (1-0) started and tossed three innings and allowed a hit and two runs (none earned) with two walks and five strikeouts.

“Pitched one heck of a game,” Mullet said. “It is early. We want to be smart with our pitch counts here. First time throwing live here since spring ball. ... We took him to 50 pitches, got him out of there. You hate to see a guy pitching like that get taken out, but we want to be smart with our arms.”

Hard-throwing sophomore Karson Grout relieved Miller in the fourth inning and struck out three of the seven batters he faced. Once his arm gets fully stretched out, he feels like his fastball should hit 93 miles-per-hour on a good day with a consistent 90 no matter the circumstance.

“I am excited because last year I was struggling to find the (strike) zone a little bit,” Grout said. “I was just really focused on pounding the zone because I know at this point I have the potential to throw it by guys and I don’t need to try to overthrow and throw it a hundred mile an hour as hard as I possibly can. I was just pounding the zone and I know my defense is going to make plays. Just make sure we limit walks and we’re good.”

Junior lefty Cain Brown closed out the game over the final two innings and allowed one hit, one run and walked two with two strikeouts. With Mid-Prairie clinging to a 4-3 lead and the tying run on first base for Muscatine with one out in the seventh inning, Brown snuffed out the threat with a nifty pickoff move to first.

“We really like Cain coming out of the pen,” Mullet said. “Obviously, you saw his pickoff move tonight. Having that late in the innings as a relief pitcher is huge. We love that is part of his game that he brings to the table when we can bring him in, we know we can kind of control the run game more in those situations.”

All three Mid-Prairie pitchers were tasked with nursing a lead that was never more than two runs the entire game. In four different innings, Muscatine had either the tying or go-ahead run on base, yet the Golden Hawks never relinquished their advantage.

“It was pretty awesome,” Grout said. “Beating a (Class) 4A team is really going to help us in the future when it comes to playoffs. We kind of went out there with the mindset like, ‘Yeah, they are bigger than us, but we are prepared. We are good enough. We know we are good enough.’ We just played confident and everyone really chipped in. It was a great game.”

At the plate, Brown, Miller and junior Camron Pickard each collected a hit and scored a run, while Helmuth also scored once. Grout, Cavanagh and Henry also posted base hits in the West Branch loss.

With Saturday’s conclusion of the state track and field meet, it will be be all baseball going forward for the Mid-Prairie players. The Golden Hawks play four games this week, including trips to Fairfield, Cascade and Williamsburg.

“Guys are just going to keep doing their jobs,” Grout said. “As long as guys are doing their jobs and playing team baseball, we’ll be good. We have got good chemistry. Everyone is bringing each other up, lifting each other up and if everyone just sticks to their baseball skill and does what they know they can do, we should be just fine.”