Washington, Mid-Prairie to play in Busch Stadium

By Doug Brenneman, JOURNAL Sports

It is just a regular Iowa High School Athletic Association nonconference baseball game between the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks and the Washington Demons that will count on both teams? records.

Regular except for the dimensions of the park it will be played in. Regular except for the place it will be played, which isn?t in Wellman or in Washington. It won?t even be played in the state of Iowa.

Instead, it will be played farther south. It will be played in Missouri. It will be played in Saint Louis and it will be played in Busch Stadium.

?It was the Washington coach?s idea,? Mid-Prairie head coach Andy Greiner said of the Demons? Nathan Miller. ?I think this is the third or fourth time they have gone down there. He?s the one that had all the knowledge about how to get us a game down there.?

Just going to attend a major-league game is exciting for most people. To get to go on the field would be even more exciting. These two teams not only are going on the field they are playing an official contest on it.

?We get a play a real baseball game with real umpires who are call calling balls and strikes on a major-league field,? Greiner said. ?I can?t believe it. Somebody pinch me.?

The two teams will even have more fans there than for a regular home game.

As part of the opportunity to play there, each team had to buy 800 tickets at $38 apiece.

The seats are located down the left-field line in the upper deck.

?I think if you tried to get one now that price would be over $300 because they are all sold out,? Greiner said.

The tickets are for a prime game on a prime weekend.

?Our thought process was if we could play before a Cubs-Cardinals game on Father?s Day weekend, we couldn?t pass that up,? Greiner said.

Sunday is Father?s Day. Saturday?s game is the Chicago Cuns at the St. Louis Cardinals.

Greiner is the father of three. ?My kids are going to be there in the stands,? he said. ?I know they are excited and I?m sure it will be a big thrill for them and for everybody involved.?

The city of St. Louis has much to offer besides Major League Baseball.

?It is going to be kind of a special weekend,? Greiner said. ?Come Sunday, everybody is going to be with their own family. That way they have a chance to spend a special day with your family doing whatever they want to do. It will be pretty cool.?

Almost everybody that roots for either of the schools will be there.

?We had to sell 800 tickets,? Greiner said. ?We did that and then asked for more. I think we sold 1100 tickets altogether. I think Washington sold all of their tickets, too.?

The teams will play at 8 a.m. Saturday. The Cardinals game is at 7 p.m. that night.

Mid-Prairie is going to leave Wellman at 10:30 a.m. Friday morning.

?We will get to St. Louis and spend some time doing things down there,? Greiner said. ?Then we will get up bright and early Saturday morning.?

Winning or losing the actual game may be immaterial.

?It is just the thrill of getting to play there,? Greiner said. ?The bottom line is this game goes on our record. It is going to be recorded to the state association as a real game. we are going to be competitive. We want to play good baseball. I know Nate and he is probably thinking the same thing. At the same time, we are going to make sure all of our guys are going to get into the game.?

There will also be a junior varsity contest.

The teams are allowed a certain time frame to play on the fiels. Watever time remains after the varsity game ends, the junior varsity get to play.

?That will probably be an hour or so,? Greiner said. ?It?s great that everybody gets to experience it. I don?t know how many Washington has but we have over 30 some guys that are going to get to be a part of this experience. They are pretty excited about it.?

Most the families are going down themselves. There is not a bus that was chartered to take a group of people. Most the families are going to be there for the whole weekend, taking advantage of the fact that it?s a Father?s Day weekend is an added bonus.

?We are going to have the experience of a lifetime and hope we play good baseball doing it,? Greiner said. ?We want to win but quite honestly I don?t think any of us are ever going to have this chance again. It may be a while before we get another chance like this. We are going to embrace it.?