Strengths

Cedar Rapids Prairie's hopes are high for the 2011 baseball season. All of the Hawks' starters are returning from last year’s team.

Coach Matt Thede is upbeat when talking about the upcoming season. “These kids have played together for a long time and have some great chemistry," he said.

Another strength for the Hawks this summer will be depth. A number of juniors and some sophomores will provide great competition day-in and day-out in practice that can only serve to make the entire team stronger.

Challenges

“Our biggest challenge will be our ability to throw strikes,” Thede said. “We have a number of good pitchers; they just need to improve on their consistency in the strike zone.”

The challenge I see for the Hawks is hitting. They have an excellent core of hitters, but to score more runs they are going to need to have better hitting in those 6 through 9 spots, plus a couple of sticks off the bench.

Hitting depth hurt them last year, but this summer they will see this deficiency disappear.

The Hawks are going to need to shake out the catching position as well, but have the personnel to take care of it.

Proven players

Prairie has every starting position player and pitcher returning from last year’s varsity team.

Jason Velvick, who scored 29 runs and was Prairie’s leading hitter in 2010 at .419, is back, and he’s only a junior.

Senior Anthony Gagliardi hit .404 and drove in 28 runs, while fellow senior Dustin Spaw hit .304 with 32 RBI. Velvick, Gagliardi and Spaw each hit five home runs.

Chaz Boots, a senior, also contributed 23 RBI and his hitting has improved each season since starting as a sophomore.

Brayton Spaw and Bryce Alberts, a pair of juniors, return as middle infielders with a full season of varsity baseball. Spaw, Gagliardi and senior Justin Hoffland accounted for nine victories and eight saves on the mound last year.

With continued hard work and the return of Brandon Lafferty, D.J. Utley and Boots to complement their efforts, they could have a solid staff.

New faces

Junior Conner Steffens and sophomore Brendan Hammer are two names that head a list of many underclassmen who could crack the varsity lineup.
 
Coming off arm issues last summer, Steffens will have the opportunity to fit into the starting rotation, be a solid infielder and a steady bat.

Hammer, as his name suggests, can hit. The Hawks can put his bat, base running speed and pitching skills to good use at the varsity level.

Expectations

Thede emphasizes pitching and defense. He knows hitting as well as anyone I have experienced in coaching.

Prairie has a lot of people with skills. If Prairie can instill self-confidence through hard work derived from competition at every position and blend that with a team-first chemistry, the Hawks will be able to be successful against any program.

Is that easy? No. Can it be done with the pieces of the puzzle Prairie has? Absolutely.