Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Cedar Rapids Prairie took over the top spot in the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association rankings on Monday morning.

The Hawks certainly looked everything like a top-ranked team on Monday evening.

Class 4A top-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie was dominant from the outset on its way to a sweep of fifth-ranked City High (11-5) in a Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division doubleheader at Mercer Park in Iowa City.

“They are 100 percent worthy of that spot,” City High coach Brian Mitchell said Prairie’s number one ranking. “They impressed me tonight. They have had a good group for a long time coming up and we weren’t naive to that and they had a chip on their shoulder I felt like when it came to us.”

Cedar Rapids Prairie hammered 12 hits in a 7-1 win in the opener and completed the sweep with an 8-1 win in the nightcap while improving to 17-0 on the season.

The Hawks out-hit City High 18 to six in the doubleheader and took advantage of six City High errors.

“Defensively we weren’t very good obviously and just in the batters’ box, it was a great lesson for us because they fought,” Mitchell said. “They fought pitches off, good pitches that we were throwing they were beating on the ground, they were finding ways to put balls in play and we didn’t do that very well.”

Cedar Rapids Prairie jumped to a 5-0 lead early in the opener with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning and three more runs in the third off City High starter Nicholas Meredith.

Junior Maddux Mueller had an RBI double in the top of the first inning and senior Michael Day had a two-run double in the three-run third for the Hawks.

“They definitely were inspired and they did the right things,” Mitchell said. “They executed their offensive game plan where they put balls in play, they get runners on base and they are very aggressive on the bases.”
Meredith took the loss in game one allowing seven runs, six earned, on 12 hits while striking out two and walking two.

Cedar Rapids Prairie senior right-hander Jordan Woodhouse limited City High to just two hits and one run while striking out five.

It was more of the same in the nightcap as Cedar Rapids Prairie jumped to a 3-0 first-inning lead behind a two-run single by Day.

Mueller picked up the win for Prairie holding City High to four hits in game two while striking out eight and walking three.

“Their pitchers came at us with fastballs,” Mitchell said. “They challenged us with fastballs and that was their game plan and it worked.”

Owen Hicks took the loss for City High in the second game giving up five runs, two earned, on five hits while striking out four.

Parker Sutherland had an RBI double to lead City High while Jaxton Schroeder had a hit and scored a run for the Little Hawks.

“Nick Meredith did everything he needed to do he just got king of unfortunate,” Mitchell said. “They banged some balls in the ground and we didn’t make some plays and Owen *(Hicks) went deep into the game and like I told him he grew in that moment. He was just as good at 98 or 99 pitches as he was at week two and that was through a lot of adversity.”

Game 1

CR Prairie     203  020  0  –  7  12  1

City High       001  000  0  –  1   2   2

W – Jordan Woodhouse                     L – Nicholas Meredith

2B – CRP: Michael Day, Maddux Mueller. ICH: Dom Salibi

Game 2

CR Prairie     300  023  x  –  8  6  1  

City High       000  001  x  –  1  4  4 

W – Maddux Mueller                         L – Owen Hicks

2B – CRP: Maddux Mueller, Collin McClintock. ICH: Parker Sutherland

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