The Cedar Rapids Prairie baseball team might as well give the other team a few runs at the start of each game. It's a risky formula, but it seems to work.

The Hawks came from behind to defeat Waterloo West in the first round of the Class 4A substate tournament on Friday and they did it again Monday night against Linn-Mar.

Prairie yielded four quick runs in the top of the first inning against Linn-Mar, but showed resiliency and battled back to top the Lions, 5-4, in the substate semifinals at Prairie.

“Any other day I think I would have been a little uptight and nervous, but when we got down it kind of took the pressure off of us,” said Prairie Coach Matt Thede. “It was almost like what do we have to lose? We might as well go out and hit the ball and throw some more strikes.”

Prairie (26-15) advanced to face second-ranked Mason City (32-9) in the substate finals Wednesday night in Mason City. The winner of that game will qualify for the Class 4A state tournament that starts next Wednesday in Des Moines.

Linn-Mar got things going in the first inning as it got back-to-back singles by the first two hitters. Cleanup hitter Jordan Strochschien drew a walk. That brought up Jeremy Danover, who nailed a bases-clearing double to left field to give the Lions a 3-0 lead. Keaton Blackford singled to drive in Danover and make it 4-0.

“I kind of struggled the first inning,” said Prairie pitcher Dustin Carlson.

Prairie answered in the bottom of the first by scoring two runs. Tyler Votroubek drew a bases-loaded walk and Carlson hit a grounder to the second baseman, scoring a runner from third.

Carlson managed to put the iffy first inning behind him. He went back to the mound and quieted the Lions’ bats. Carlson allowed only one more hit after the first inning and held the Lions scoreless the rest of the way during his five-inning stint.

“I was mainly throwing a straight fastball the first inning, so I tried to mix in a two-seamer to throw them off a little bit,” he said.

Chaz Boots led off the second inning for Prairie with a double and scored on an RBI groundout by Brennan Hammer, pulling the Hawks within 4-3. D.J. Utley roped a base hit and Brayton Carlson doubled to left, scoring Utley and tying the game 4-4.

Prairie took a 5-4 lead in the third inning. Votroubek led off with a single, followed by a walk to Dustin Carlson. Tyler Butz sent the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Boots hit a sharp grounder to the second baseman for an out, but Votroubek scored from third for the go-ahead run.

“I knew we had the offense to come back,” said Carlson.

Bryce Alberts pitched the sixth inning for Prairie and Anthony Gagliardi closed the game in the seventh.

“To shut those guys down for six more innings says a lot about our pitching staff because they have a great hitting club,” said Thede.

Prairie will be the underdog at Mason City on Wednesday, but the Hawks are eager for the challenge.

“We play a really good team, but we are pretty battle-tested right now so we are just going to go out and hit the ball and play some good defense,” said Dustin Carlson.

Linn Mar finished the season at 22-18.

LINN-MAR (4)
Hunter, lf, 4 1 1 0, Larison, ss, 4 1 1 0, Redmond, cf, 3 0 0 0, J. Stroschein, rf, 3 1 0 0, Danover, c, 3 1 1 3, Stickney, dh, 3 0 0 0, Blackford, 1b, 3 0 0 1, Prokop, 2b, 3 0 1 0, A. Stroschein, 3b, 3 0 0 0. Totals 29 4 4 4.

PRAIRIE (5)
Hammer, dh, Meyer, c, 0 0 0 0, 4 1 0 0, Utley, 1b, 4 1 1 0, B. Carlson, 2b, 4 1 1 1, Gagliardi, cf/p, 3 0 0 0, Votroubek, rf, 3 1 1 1, D. Carlson, p/c, 3 0 0 1, Butz, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Boots, lf, 3 1 1 1, Mougin, ss, 2 0 0 0, Velvick, 1 0 0 0. Totals 30 5 4 4.

Linn-Mar   400 000 0 - 4 4 0
Prairie       221 000 x - 5 4 0

Greve, A. Stroschein (3), Wyant (4) and Danover. D. Carlson, Alberts (6), Gagliardi (7) and Meyer, Carlson(6). W - Carlson. L - Wyant. 2B - Danover, B. Carlson, Boots. SB - B. Carlson.