Two of the top teams in class 2A got together Tuesday night at Paul N. Bailey Field in Wellman when the No. 4 ranked Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks hosted No. 7 Durant in a River Valley Conference doubleheader. The Golden Hawks won game one 5-4 while Durant earned a split taking the second contest 12-9. Mid-Prairie took an early lead in the first game with a pair of unearned runs in the third on three consecutive Wildcat errors. Cain Brown and Kayden Reinier scored in the inning. The Cats responded in the fifth with a four spot, to go up by two on two walks, a Mid-Prairie error and a triple from left fielder Aydin Flockhart. Mid-Prairie came back in the bottom half with a run when Will Cavanagh singled and came home on a wild pitch to make it 4-3. In the sixth, Aidan Rath changed that with one swing of the bat, launching a two-run homer to right centerfield, putting Mid-Prairie up 5-4 and freshman Karson Grout came on in the seventh to earn the save. Cain Brown recorded the win, working one inning of relief.

In the second game, Durant jumped out to an early lead, Mid-Prairie climbed back, but the Wildcats held on for a 12-9 victory. Durant scored once in the first and second innings, then batted around in a five run third to go up 7-0. Mid-Prairie began to chip away, scoring once in the home half of the thirdwhen Grout drove in Reinier with an RBI single, twice in the fourth when Cavanagh and Keegan Gingerich each had sac flies to score Rath and Nathan Quinby, and once in the fifth when Brown came home on an RBI ground out from Grout to get the Hawks within 7-4. Durant hit around again in the sixth, stretching the lead back to 12-4 going to the seventh. The Hawks wouldn’t go quietly however, scoring five times in their last at-bat, including a three run homer from Rath, his second long ball of the night. After the doubleheader, Mid-Prairie head caoach Kyle Mullet talked about the night. “I think it shows the leadership and where we are mentally with this team. In the second game how many teams would have just rolled over? Our guys fought. I took a lot of good things away from this game. I think we are there mentally, we just need to clean up the physical errors. Will Cavanagh works hard, has a blue collar mentality and a good swing. Aidan Rath is a threat every time he gets in the box. He also did a great job on the mound tonight. Then Cain Brown battled to get out of an inning even though he didn’t have his best stuff and Karson Grout closed it out with the last three outs of the first game.”

Grout and Rath each drove in three for Mid-Prairie in game two. Gingerich and Cavanagh knocked in a pair. Keegan Gingerich took the loss for Hawks on the hill, going two and two thirds innings, allowing four hits, five walks, seven runs and striking out three. With the split, Mid-Prairie is now 4-1 on the year and will host Camanche Thursday.