Many elements are necessary to upset a top-ranked team.

For such an event to happen, the underdog team has to execute to perfection, take advantage of any opportunities and come up with the clutch plays at clutch times.

Cedar Rapids Prairie's baseball team did all of the above Thursday night.

The Hawks turned three double plays on defense, scored all five of their runs after two were out and got big hits from seniors Ty Mougin and Brennan Hammer in the decisive two-run sixth inning to send top-ranked Ankeny back to central Iowa with a 5-3 defeat in a well-played game at Prairie.

Coach Matt Thede's squad, which hosts Cedar Falls in a key Mississippi Valley Conference twinbill Friday night, moved to 12-6 with the win. Ankeny dropped to 12-3.

Thede sent a message to his team earlier in the day about his expectations for the match-up with the state's top Class 4A team.

"I sent (the players) a text before the game saying that other people will be shocked, but we will not be shocked if we win this game," he said. "We believe in ourselves and we believe in our team, but this was nothing more than a non-conference game against a quality opponent where we will learn a little more about ourselves."

So what did Thede learn?

Well, he may have found a closer for the rest of the season.

Mougin has been a fixture at shortstop for the Hawks and hadn't taken to the mound until the seventh inning of Thursday's game.

"I just threw a bullpen for the first time this week," he said. "That was my first appearance all year. I wasn't even a pitcher at the start of the year."

The move to the mound came out of necessity. Thede said the Hawks have been a little thin on the mound and some reinforcements were needed.

"We've been searching for a little help," Thede said. "We have a couple kids dinged up and we have been looking for a fourth starter. Ty stepped up. He pitched a little bit for us last year and said 'Coach, I'd like to help out.' He came out, threw a bullpen on Tuesday and closed down the show on Thursday."

Mougin had already done plenty before taking the mound in the seventh. He was in the middle of three double plays in the first four innings and had walked three times, scoring twice. He stepped in with two outs in the bottom of the sixth against Ankeny left-hander Keenan Jones and looped a ball that fell out of the reach of second baseman Brent Jones in short right field.

Brent Jones' momentum was taking him away from the plate. Thede saw that and waved courtesy runner Nick Benson, who was on first, to the plate. Benson slid to the outside, just ahead of the tag from Ankeny catcher Cody Olson to give Prairie a 4-3 lead.

Mougin's approach was simple, just get the bat on the ball.

"I was ready for a strike," he said. "I was just trying to get the bat on the ball to see if they could handle it out there."

As for Benson's dash from first, Thede said there was no hesitation.

"We just kept sending him around there," Thede said. "We needed a little redemption after he got caught at home earlier (on a pitch that kicked away from Olson, who threw to Keenan Jones to cut down the potential go-ahead run).

"He just kept going," continued the Prairie coach. "I just said to myself we were going for the win. His (Jones') momentum was going toward the outfield and (Benson) was going strong around third base so I sent him because I knew it would take a perfect throw to get him."

Brennan Hammer followed with a double to left, plating Mougin with an insurance run.

Ankeny put two runners on in the top of the seventh, but Mougin got Austin Hurst on a liner to right to end the game.

Four Prairie pitchers scattered seven hits against a potent Ankeny batting order. Caleb Davison came on in relief to get the final out of the sixth inning and was the winning pitcher.

"I thought we got great pitching from all the guys we used," Thede said. "That will help us as we go along through the rest of the season."

The win was kept in prospective by Mougin.

"This is a big win for our program," he said. "The past couple years we have been successful, but this was just another step. I hope we can carry it out, win a conference championship and do big things at the end of the year. "

ANKENY (3): Bunting, ss, 3 0 1 0, Shultice, p-cf, 4 0 0 0, B. Jones, 2b, 3 0 1 0, Johnson, 3b, 2 0 0 0, Olson, c, 3 0 1 0, Carey, cr,  0 1 0 0, Hurst, dh, 3 2 1 0, Lenzini, cf, 0 0 0 0, K. Jones, p, 0 0 0 0, Schweers, 1b, 2 0 1 1, Ledvina, pr, 0 0 0 0, Morrissey, rf, 2 0 1 1, Severson, lf, 3 0 1 1. Totals: 25 3 7 3.

PRAIRIE (5): T. Mougin, ss-p, 1 3 1 1, Hammer, rf-1b-rf-1b, 3 0 2 2, Butz, 3b-ss, 3 0 0 0, Votroubek, 1b-p-1b-3b, 4 0 0 0, Davison, lf-p-lf, 2 0 1 0, Stallman, cf, 3 0 0 0, Beckman, p-rf-lf, 3 0 0 0, Peters, rf, 0 0 0 0, N. Mougin, c, 1 0 1 0, Benson, cr, 0 2 0 0, Becker, 2b, 2 0 0 0. Totals 22 5 5 3.

Ankeny   020 010 0 - 3 7 2
Prairie     120 002 x - 5 5 1

Shultice, K. Jones (4) and Olson. Beckman, Votroubek (3), Davison (6), T. Mougin (7) and K. Mougin. W - Davison, L - K. Jones. Sv -  T. Mougin. 2B - Hurst, T. Mougin, Hammer. SB - B. Jones, Morrissey, T. Mougin 2, Hammer.