Cedar Rapids Prairie baseball coach Matt Thede got a message Friday night before the Hawks played Waterloo West in a Class 4A substate quarterfinal at Prairie.

“I got a text right before the game tonight that said win pretty or win ugly, but just win, and tonight we did what we had to and got the win," he said.

Prairie nipped Waterloo West, 6-4, in eight innings.

The Hawks will find out Saturday night if they'll host Linn-Mar in the substate semifinals Monday night or if they'll draw a second-round bye. Mason City's game against Waterloo East was postponed Friday and rescheduled for Saturday, putting the rest of the substate schedule on hold. If Mason City wins, Prairie will host Linn-Mar on Monday. If Waterloo East wins, the Hawks don't play until the substate final on Wednesday.

Prairie was the No.2 seed and playing at home against the No.5 seed Friday night, but the seedings did not mean a thing. The score was tied, 4-4, after seven innings and the game was up for grabs.

They flip a coin to determine the home team for substate games. Waterloo West won the toss, so Prairie was the visiting team when it came to bat in the top of the eighth inning.

The Hawks put runners on second and third with one out in the top of the eighth. Dustin Carlson hit a sacrifice fly to break the tie and make it 5-4, then Tyler Butz followed with an RBI single for an insurance run.

Anthony Gagliardi went the distance for the Hawks. He gave up two earned runs on two hits, with 10 strikeouts. He also hit a home run.

“Gags didn’t have his best stuff tonight, but we just had to play around our mistakes, stay positive, and play relaxed,” Thede said.

Nonetheless, Gagliardi had enough to pitch eight innings and help Prairie advance.

"I didn’t feel like my fastball had much velocity tonight, but my curve was my pitch tonight,” he said.

Prairie scored in the first inning on a ground ball by Brayton Carlson and scored again in the second on a passed ball to take a 2-0 lead. Waterloo West came up with three runs in the third inning on two walks, two errors and a two-run single by Conrad Bush.

Gagliardi tied it in the fourth inning, 3-3. with a solo homer to left. Prairie took the lead in the fifth on an RBI double by Brennan Hammer, but Waterloo West pushed across an unearned run in the sixth to knot the score 4-4.

Butz went 3-for-4 to lead Prairie. Hammer and Gagliardi had two hits.

“I see a lot more breaking stuff at the varsity level,” said Butz, a sophomore. “I really have to concentrate on keeping my weight and hands back and make good contact.”

Prairie moved its record to 25-15 and Waterloo West ended its season at 8-31.

PRAIRIE (6)
Hammer, dh, 3 1 2 1, Joens, cf, 0 0 0 0, Utley, 1b, 3 0 0 0, B. Carlson, 2b, 4 1 1 1, Gagliardi, p, 3 2 2 1, Votroubek, rf, 3 0 0 0, Meyer, ph, 1 0 0 0, D. Carlson, c, 3 0 1 1, Allard, cr, 0 1 0 0, Meyer, 3b, 1 0 0 0, Butz, 3b, 4 0 3 1, Boots, lf, 4 1 1 0, Mougin, ss, 2 0 0 0. Totals 30 6 10 4.

WATERLOO WEST (4)
Brown, cf, 4 1 0 0, Vaughn, ss, 1 1 0 1, Fricke, c, 3 0 0 0, Jenkins, cr, 0 0 0 0, Bush, 1b,  3 0 1 1, Stokes, 3b, 4 1 1 0, Kullen, rf, 3 0 0 0, Fisher, dh, 4 0 0 0, Brauer, p, 0 0 0 0, Trebon, p, 0 0 0 0, McClain, 2b, 2 1 0 0, Christensen, lf, 3 0 0 0. Totals 28 4 2 0.

Prairie                   110 110 02 - 6 10
Waterloo West      003 001 00 - 4  2

Brauer, Trebon (5) and Fricke. Gagliardi and D. Carlson. W - Gagliardi. L - Trebon. 2B - Hammer 2, Butz. HR - Gagliardi. SB - Gagliardi, Boots, Velvick.