Prairie baseball motivated for even more success

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Prairie baseball has some extra motivation this season.

The Hawks want to cleanse the bad taste of a first-round state tournament loss last summer from their pallet.

“We’re trying to help the seniors make it past the first round,” said sophomore first baseman Shraden Lechtenberg. “And in doing that, winning games.”

Prairie has done plenty of the latter this season. The Hawks are 21-3 — the first team to win 20 games this season — and rank second in Class 4A by Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association.

Now they are hoping to make a deeper run far in the postseason.

Prairie has an immense amount of pitching depth. With 12 pitchers available, the Hawks are able to throw many different players.

“Most of our guys are (pitching) to contact and keeping the ball low,” Lechtenberg said, “and you know if you let them hit it, you let the defense work.”

For example, Logan Wagemester has allowed three earned runs in 34 innings pitched.

Whenever the pitching isn't working, however, “we have a good defense to the point where we are not allowing that many runs,” Lechtenberg said. `

Prairie also is one of the best teams in Class 4A at stealing bases and is known for having aggressive base running skills. The Hawks have 100 stolen bases, tops in the Mississippi Valley Conference and third in 4A.

This puts them in a great position to score extra runs.

“Being able to control the bases and get that extra run has put teams in pressure (situations) and helped us win more ball games,” Lechtenberg said.

Prairie’s senior depth, including three who are having outstanding seasons. Cal Sullivan has the best on-base percentage in 4A at .615.

“Cal is the main leader, he's always talking to guys … he's always the one motivating our team into a situation to win,” Lechtenberg said.

Kade Knock and Maddux Freese rank in the top 10 in 4A batting. Knock is hitting .463 and is first in 4A in runs scored. Freese has a .451 batting average and is a leader in the infield.

“Maddux and Kade have been great role models to everyone, and just following them has helped our team be very successful,” Lechtenberg said.