The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball and softball teams travel to West Branch tonight for a split River Valley Conference doubleheader. The Golden Hawk baseball team is 7-3 on the year and ranked No. 8 in class 2A in the latest poll from the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association. Last time out their five game winning streak was snapped by Solon in Wellman in extra innings 6-4. On the year the Hawks are hitting .321 as a team, led by Aidan Rath at .593 with 16 hits and 15 RBI. Brad Tornow holds the team lead with 16 runs scored. The Golden Hawk staff has a team ERA of 2.92 led by Brad Tornow at 0.60 with a 3-0 record in 11 and 2/3 innings with 25 strikeouts.

West Branch comes into tonight with an overall mark of 3-7. Last time out they beat Anamosa Monday 9-7, breaking a five game losing streak. For the year, the Bears are hitting .248, led by Cael Fiderlein at .360 with nine hits. Matt Paulsen leads the team with eight runs driven in. Pete Espensen has scored a team best nine runs. The Bears staff has a team ERA of 5.25 led by Lucas Pierce at 2.55 with a 1-1 record in 11 innings. These two teams met three times a season ago with West Branch taking two of three games including a 7-6 win in the district championship round of the playoffs. This week, Mid-Prairie head baseball coach Andy Greiner talked about the importance of the game and keys. “We want to come out and set the tone with them this year. We have a lot of respect for their players and program. We know their season hasn’t gone as expected. We have to take advantage of our opportunities and this game is one of them. We get a chance to play a good team in a tournament atmosphere. We expect to see them throw Eagle. They are going to put pressure on you on the bases. They haven’t hit much yet this year, but in baseball that can change quickly. We need to play well.”

The Mid-Prairie softball team enters tonight with an overall record of 0-6. They fell at West Liberty 10-0 Monday. For the season, the Golden Hawks are hitting .146, led by Rylee Vercande and her .350 average with seven hits, four runs scored and one homerun. In the circle, Mid-Prairie has a 6.89 ERA, led by Myah Lugar at 5.02 in 15 and a third innings with an 0-3 overall record.

West Branch is 3-5 this year. They were beaten by Anamosa Monday 8-1. For the year the Bears are hitting .303 as a team, led by Nicki Henson and Lexi Klinkkammer each at .500. The Bears pitching staff has a 5.49ERA led by Kaiya Luneckas with a 5.00ERA with 42 innings of work and a 3-4 overall record. These two teams met a year ago in a doubleheader split with the Hawks taking a 2-0 win and West Branch winning a 10-9 slugfest. Both games start at 7p.m. in West Branch. You can hear all of the baseball action live on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 6:30 and first pitch at 7p.m.