Baseball: Iowa City West edges Prairie

Alex Busbee, The Gazette

Cedar Rapids Prairie's Caleb Davison reaches for a ball in the outfield during a game against Iowa City West at Prairie High School in Cedar Rapids on Friday, June 22, 2012. (Clif Jette/KCRG TV9)

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By Grant Burkhardt

Story Created: Jun 22, 2012 at 11:59 PM CDT

Story Updated: Jun 23, 2012 at 12:00 AM CDT

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Cedar Rapids Prairie dedicated a new scoreboard before a baseball game against Iowa City West.

It’s a scoreboard they can be proud of. Friday night’s score, not so much, in an 8-7 West victory.

Prairie looked to be cruising after six innings, leading 7-3. The pitching of Mitchell Adams combined with the Hawks’ fielding bottled up the Trojan offense. And West wasn’t doing itself any favors, with five errors in six innings.

“Stuff happens, and Prairie took advantage of it,” West coach Charlie Stumpff said. “Hopefully, we got that out of our system. We’re better than that and the kids know that.”

But just as the Trojans were looking down and out, they roared back with a five-run seventh inning to take the lead at 8-7. Luke Crimmins, Colin Baker, and Nick Grimsman recorded RBIs.

“We had great at-bats by a lot of guys of who had some down times during the game,” Stumpff said. “Nick Grimsman struggled, so it was really nice for him to get the game winning hit.”

West pitcher Tyus Adkins, who was brought in during the sixth inning, walked the first batter, then finished with three straight strikeouts. The furious Prairie batters threw their bats and helmets.

“I felt pretty confident,” Adkins said. “I knew I had my defense behind me to help me out. My fastball and change-up were my go-to pitches. It feels good to know my team has confidence in me. It’s heartwarming.”

The Trojans completed the sweep of the Hawks. They beat them Thursday night in Iowa City, 9-6. West improved to 19-7, and Prairie dipped to 10-11.

“It’s easy to say it wasn’t our night tonight and get three outs go home and go to the weekend,” Stumpff said. “It shows some character, some good heart to comeback in the seventh. It’s real important because we’re going to have bad games. We’re high school kids.”

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