Prairie ended the 2011 baseball season with a 26-16 record and was taken out of the tournament by an excellent Mason City team.

The Hawks have a starter or part-time starter returning at seven of the 10 positions. They have experience and they have hitting, led by second team all-state second baseman Brayton Carlson (.429, 8 homers, 36 RBI), first baseman Brennan Hammer (.367, 36 RBI) and third baseman Tyler Butz (.364, 3 homers, 21 RBI).

Prairie also returns Bryce Alberts (5-2, 3.94 ERA), who will provide experience and leadership to an otherwise inexperienced pitching staff. They have some quality pitching prospects that only lack varsity experience.

Key Losses:

Leading the list of losses due to graduation is Mississippi Valley Conference MVP D.J. Utley (.441, 15 homers, 50 RBI). Also gone are three-year starters Anthony Gagliardi, Dustin Carlson and Chaz Boots. Those three players combined for 109 runs, 126 hits, 84 runs batted in and 15 pitching victories.

Despite losing all that offensive productivity, the toughest hole to fill may be the catching position that iron man Carlson and utility player Nate Meyer filled at a quality level.

Key Returning Players:

The entire infield of Hammer, Carlson, Butz and Ty Mougin returns from last year and all but Carlson are juniors. They also return junior outfielder Tyler Votroubek who hit .347 in 49 varsity at-bats last season.

Another player back for his senior season is outfielder Jason Velvick, who missed most of his junior season recovering from a car accident. As a sophomore at the varsity level, he hit .407 with five homers.

Alberts will be the most experienced pitcher, but they have players to fill out the rotation. Senior pitcher Connor Steffens needs to have a healthy summer and could make an important contribution, as will hard-throwing Trent Schulte with improved consistency.

Hammer, Butz and Votroubek all have pitched, but only Hammer has any varsity experience. Juniors Cam Rathje, Blake Stallman, Spencer Dean and Mitch Adams all had successful seasons last year at the sophomore level and will bring serious competition for the starting rotation.

Outlook:

“We need to throw strikes and get good defense,” said Coach Matt Thede. Of course, that is what everybody needs.

I think the Hawks will make the next step in the program's development. They will have good pitching. Maybe not great pitching, but they will have great defense and excellent offense.

They will be a tough team. They have enough to get to Des Moines. It’s all about matchups.