The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team begins their drive toward a River Valley Conference South Division three-peat tonight when they host the Tipton Tigers for a holiday doubleheader. The Hawks are out to a 2-0 start after wins over Highland and Davenport West to start the year, by a combined 12-0 score. They are ranked No. 14 in Class 2A in the first poll of the year from the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association. Mid-Prairie is hitting .283 as a team with a .411 OBP and .391 slug, with 13 total hits, 11RBI, seven walks and 16 strikeouts. Five Golden Hawks are hitting .300 or better including Gentry Bontrager, Blake Swart, Conner Wiles, Landry Gingerich and Jason Heitman. Wiles is the team leader with five driven in and Bontrager, Swart, Wiles and Heitman each have two hits. Brady and Brooks Weber and Tatem Telfer have each worked on the mound this year across 12 innings with just two hits allowed, three walks, no runs and 19 strikeouts. Following their Friday win over Highland, head coach Kyle Mullet spoke on the postgame show about what stands out from his team’s first two games.

Mullet

Tipton is 2-1 this year after a sweep of West Branch and a loss to Bellevue Marquette Catholic. They have been outscored 22-14 this season. The Tigers hit .136 as a team with a .266OBP and .197 slug, scoring 14 runs on nine hits with 10RBI, 12 walks and 17 strikeouts. Individually, Jacob Langely is hitting .333 with three hits and two driven in and two runs scored. Braydon Colander and Garret Fitch each have three RBI. The Tigers have a 6.56 team ERA with a .239 opponent average, 21 hits, 15 earned runs, 10 walks and 24 strikeouts. Calonder has a 1-0 record and 4.20ERA with eight strikeouts. Mid-Prairie has won 10 straight in the series, including all three last year by a combined 34-7 score. Tipton’s last win was 2020. You can hear all of the action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5, KCII, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Golden Hawk baseball pregame show at 4:30p.m., first pitch of game one at 5p.m. With game two to follow from Paul N. Bailey Field in Wellman.