The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls of summer hit the road Monday for a River Valley Conference set at West Liberty. Golden Hawk baseball enters their doubleheader with a 4-6 overall record, 4-4 in the RVC after an 8-0 loss at Fairfield Friday. This year, the Hawks hit .238 as a team with a .379OBP, .312 slug and .691OPS, with 51 runs on 61 hits, 44RBI, 50 walks and 75 strikeouts. Individually, Brooks Weber is the leader at the plate with a .400 average, .514OBP, .800slug and 1.314OPS with 13RBI, 12 hits, 10 runs and six walks. As a pitching staff, the Hawks have a 6.15ERA with a two WHIP, .271 opponent average, 73 hits, 58 earned runs and 61 strikeouts. Weber, Bronx Miller, Peyton Brenneman, and Kale Miller each have a win. Weber leads with a 2.62ERA.
West Liberty is 5-7 this year, 4-5 in the River Valley after a 5-2 win against Tipton last time out. The Comets hit .249 as a team with a .385OBP, .313slug and .698OPS with 66 hits and runs 46RBI and 49 walks. Pierre Shield leads with a .360 average, .485OBP, .600 slug and seven RBI. Tully Griffith has 14 runs scored and 11 hits. The West Liberty staff has a 3.61ERA with a 1.15WHIP, .282 opponent average, 48 hits, 39 earned runs, 29 walks and 52 strikeouts. Cole Wagamon is the leader with two wins and a 1.83ERA. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Kyle Mullet talked about the keys for his team at this point in the season. “Monday, it’s about having a fresh start. We want to see the team that we had early on last week. The team that was competing and fighting in games. We want to bounce back, put the last few behind us and come out on a new day.”
Mid-Prairie has won 32 of the last 41 in the series, but the Comets have four of the last five and all three last year.
The softball contest is a ranked, first-place battle. The Mid-Prairie girls are 6-2 on the year after a pair of weekend losses to Davenport Assumption and Iowa City West at the University of Iowa tournament. The Hawks are ranked No. 14 in Class 3A in the latest poll from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and 4-0 in the River Valley. The Golden Hawks hit .335 as a team with a .430OBP, .435 slug and .865OPS, with 66 runs, 67 hits, 46RBI, 30 walks and 26 strikeouts. Sophie Miller leads with a .500 average, 13 runs, 12 hits and eight RBI. Kadence Grout leads with a .652 slug and 1.208OPS and is even with Miller at eight RBI. Elise Foster has also scored 13 times and walked eight. As a pitching staff, the Golden Hawks 3.35ERA with a 1.39WHIP, .214 opponent average, 41 hits, 22 earned runs, 23 walks and 42 strikeouts. Naomi Wadsworth is 4-1 with a 3.58ERA.
West Liberty is also 6-2 and 4-0 after dropping a contest to No. 1 in 3A Williamsburg 10-1 over the weekend. The Comets are ranked No. 6 in this week’s Athletic Union 3A poll. West Liberty hits .443 as a team with a .531OBP, .688 slug and 1.219OPS with 80 runs, 85 hits, 68RBI and 30 walks. Kiley Collins leads with a .583 average, .630OBP and .708 slug, 14 hits, 12 runs and 11RBI. The West Liberty pitching staff of Mallory Wulf and Kylee Daufeldt have combined for a 4.67ERA, 1.56WHIP, .292 average against, 47 hits, 26 earned runs and 14 walks.
West Liberty has won 23 of the last 24, including a season sweep of both games last year by a 20-3 score. The Golden Hawks last win came in 2023.
You can hear all of the baseball action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Golden Hawk Baseball Pregame Show at 4:30p.m., first pitch of game one at five with game two to follow from West Liberty High School.