Prairie High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Japan-Metro Classic: Trey Beckman

Trey Beckman learned the hard way that Division I athletics is a business when Nebraska yanked the scholarship he'd been promised to play baseball for the Cornhuskers, but he's overcome the blow and is excited for the future.

Beckman, an all-state outfielder from Cedar Rapids Prairie, will play in the Japan-Metro All-Star Classic Thursday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium and then leave later this month for Wabash Valley Community College.

Wabash Valley is a long way from Nebraska, but Beckman is eager to get started with one of the top junior college baseball programs in the Midwest. He thought he had an iron-clad deal with Nebraska Coach Darin Erstad, but that evaporated.

Beckman accepted an offer from Nebraska when he was a sophomore and quit looking for another place to play. Then the trap-door opened.

"About this time last year Coach Erstad gave me a call and said I have some bad news: 'We over-booked on outfielders and we ended up recruiting too many kids.'"

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5 Metro players picked for all-star games

Five baseball players from Metro high schools have been selected to play in the 2015 IHSBCA All-Star Series that will be held Aug. 6-9 in Clinton.

Zach Daniels of Kennedy, Sammy Lizarraga of Kennedy, Lucas Larson of Jefferson, David Kuhn of Marion and Trey Beckman of Prairie will play for the Large Schools East Squad in the series, which is sponsored by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association.

The team will play games against Large Schools West, Small Schools East and Small Schools West.

Marion High School Coach Steve Fish will serve as the head coach for Large Schools East.

The games will be played at Ashford University Field, the home of the Clinton LumberKings in the Midwest League.

Nic Mougin wins Metro Spotlight Award

Nic Mougin of Cedar Rapids Prairie is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school boys this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday night.

Mougin, a junior, was a key member of the Prairie baseball team that won the first Mississippi Valley Conference title in school history this year and set a school record with 31 victories.

Mougin had a .413 batting average entering the Class 4A substate tournament with 15 doubles, two triples, two home runs and 28 RBIs. He played the infield for the Hawks and also compiled a 2-2 record on the mound.

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Prairie stopped in substate finals

The most successful season in school history ended a step too soon for the Cedar Rapids Prairie baseball team Wednesday night.

The Hawks ran into one of the hottest clubs in America and lost to Iowa City West, 5-2, in the Class 4A substate finals before an overflow crowd at the Prairie diamond.

Prairie smashed the school record with 31 victories this year and captured the first Mississippi Valley Conference title in school history, but the Hawks played the wrong dang club on the wrong night Wednesday.

Iowa City West, which dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Prairie earlier in the year, has won 19 of its last 21 games and is sizzling right now.

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