Sat - 02 Jul
Written by Jim Ecker
Cedar Rapids Prairie baseball coach Matt Thede was extremely unhappy with his team after the Hawks lost to Iowa City West, 11-10, on June 24 in Iowa City.
It wasn't the loss so much. It was the attitude. He thought it was too negative, too comfortable with losing, too willing to accept the unacceptable. And there were discipline problems.
The next day, he didn't take several of his players to a tournament in Marion. He told them to go home. He'd play with the guys who wanted to be there.
The Hawks got pounded, 10-1, by Burlington at the Marion tournament on June 25, perhaps shaken by the turn of events.
"We had a reality check. We stunk a little bit," Thede said Saturday afternoon.
That loss to Burlington dropped the Hawks to 10-and-13 for the year. Their dream of a winning season seemed to be slipping away.
Then last Monday, the Hawks held a team meeting to talk it over. They cleansed their souls.
"We had some apologies and we had some fired-up speeches," Thede said, "and ever since then the ball has been rolling."
The Hawks swept a doubleheader at Dubuque Hempstead on Monday. They swept another twinbill from Waterloo East on Wednesday, then swept Cedar Falls on Friday for six straight wins.
Not done yet, they beat Cedar Rapids Washington, 6-1, in the first game of a makeup doubleheader Saturday at Prairie to make it seven wins in one week.
Washington won the second game Saturday, 11-10, to give the Warriors a much-needed victory and give the Hawks their only blemish during an otherwise perfect week.
"There's a lot of forgiveness on our team. Love and forgiveness covers a multitude of sins," Thede said.
Prairie survived the gut-check, but some of the players weren't sure how it would turn out or where the team was headed a week ago.
"We had a bunch of attitude issues," said senior D.J. Utley. "It was kind of like everybody on the bench was always negative, and everybody on the field was always negative. It was really bad.
"So we sent some guys home and hopefully it taught people a lesson that we need to get it all together. And this week we were all pretty positive."
Prairie ended its busy week at 17-14 overall and 13-9 in the Mississippi Valley Conference, in reach of its first winning season since at least 1994.
Anthony Gagliardi pitched a strong game for the Hawks in the 6-1 victory in the opener against Washington. He carried a two-hit shutout into the seventh inning, but A.J. Puk spoiled the shutout with a solo home run to center field.
Gagliardi finished with a four-hitter with eight strikeouts.
Washington jumped to a 9-0 lead after three innings of the second game, then had to withstand a furious rally by the Hawks to claim the 11-10 victory. Puk helped preserve the win with a sensational defensive play at first base on a screaming ground ball by Utley in the seventh inning with the tying run on base.
The Warriors have had their own problems this year, including an unexpected coaching change before the season began, but interim head coach Brent Henry appreciates the way his club has kept battling through adversity.
Washington is 10-20 overall and 5-17 in the Valley.
"They've got a lot of heart, they have a lot of passion," Henry said. "They love to compete, they love to play baseball.
"We want guys that want to be playing baseball and want to be on the field. And every guy in this dugout wants to do that."
Mike Troendle walloped a two-run homer to give Washington an 11-6 lead in the top of the fifth. Prairie kept inching closer and had the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh, but the Warriors wriggled out of trouble.
"We've got a lot of heart, a lot of fight," Troendle said. "At the end of the game, everybody was up in the dugout.
"We've been through a coaching change and everything else, but we've been playing together since we were little. We kind of know what each other is about."
Noah Dostal had a three-run triple for Washington in the second game. Cole Rhatigan, Zach Zingula and Troendle all had two RBIs. Noah Burdt got the win in relief.
Utley hit a grand slam for Prairie in the fourth inning, helping the Hawks pull within 9-6 after they trailed 9-0.
Dakota Freese played for Washington in doubleheaders Friday night against Waterloo West and Saturday against Prairie. He went 2-for-6 against Prairie as the designated hitter.
Freese left the Warriors several weeks ago to play for a travel team in Chicago. He plans to rejoin the travel team, but said he might play for the Warriors in the substate tournament that starts July 15.
Game 1
WASHINGTON (1)
Brown, cf, 3 0 1 0, N. Dostal, c, 3 0 1 0, White, ss, 3 0 0 0, Puk, 1b, 3 1 1 1, Rhatigan, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Freese, dh, 2 0 1 0, G. Dostal, lf, 0 0 0 0, Zingula, 2b, 3 0 0 0, Hogg, rf, 3 0 0 0, Troendle, p, 2 0 0 0. Totals 25 1 4 1.
PRAIRIE (6)
Hammer, dh, 3 1 1 0, Hilgenkamp, pr, 0 0 0 0, Joens, cf, 0 0 0 0, Utley, 1b, 4 0 1 0, B. Carlson, 2b, 4 1 1 1, Gagliardi, p, 2 1 1 1, Votroubek, rf, 3 0 1 0, D. Carlson, c, 3 0 1 1, Allard, cr, 0 0 0 0, Butz, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Boots, lf, 3 2 1 0, Mougin, ss, 1 1 1 1. Totals 26 6 8 5.
Washington 000 000 1 - 1 4 2
Prairie 210 111 x - 6 8 2
Troendle and N. Dostal. Gagliardi and D. Carlson. W - Gagliardi. L - Troendle. 2B - Mougin. HR - Puk, Gagliardi. SB - N. Dostal, Boots 2, Mougin.
Game 2
WASHINGTON (11)
N. Dostal, c, 3 1 2 3, Brown, lf, 4 1 2 1, White, p/ss, 4 0 0 0, Puk, 1b, 2 2 0 0, Rhatigan, 3b, 3 2 2 2, Freese, dh, 4 0 1 1, Burdt, p, 0 0 0 0, Hogg, ss, 0 0 0 0, Zingula, 2b, 3 1 1 2, G. Dostal, rf, 4 2 1 0, Troendle, cf, 4 2 2 2. Totals 31 11 11 11.
PRAIRIE (10)
Hammer, 1b/p, 4 0 1 2, Utley, dh/1b, 5 1 2 4, Meyer, 3b, 0 0 0 0, B. Carlson, 2b, 4 1 1 0, Gagliardi, rf, 3 1 1 1, Votroubek, lf, 3 0 2 0, Butz, lf, 1 0 0 0, D. Carlson, c, 3 0 1 0, Allard, cr, 0 2 0 0, Joens, cf, 3 1 1 0, Whitters, ph, 1 0 0 0, Alberts, p, 1 0 0 0, Boots, p, 3 2 2 1, Mougin, ss, 2 2 1 1. Totals 33 10 12 9.
Washington 306 020 0 - 11 11 1
Prairie 000 621 1 - 10 12 2
White, Burdt (4) and N. Dostal. Alberts, Boots (3), Hammer (6) and D. Carlson. W - Burdt. L - Alberts. 2B - Freese, Hammer, Utley, Gagliardi, Boots. 3B - N. Dostal. HR - Troendle, Utley. SB - Brown, Rhatigan, Gagliardi 2.
Last Updated on Saturday, 02 July 2011 19:56
