The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team hosts the West Branch Bears Monday to start the River Valley Conference schedule. The Hawks are 2-0 and ranked No. 6 in the latest Class 2A poll from the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association. In two contests so far they have outscored Davenport West and Highland 25-1 in total. In a 17-1 win over the Huskies, all nine in the lineup scored a run, seven of the nine had a hit and six of the nine drove in at least one. They were led by Luke Traetow with three RBI, Tatem Telfer and Dylan Henry had two each. Telfer, Bowen Burmeister and Henry all had two hits and Burmeister and Henry scored three times. Brock Harland was the winning pitcher, striking out six in two innings. So far, the Golden Hawks are hitting .352 as a team with a .485 OBP and a .407 slug with 25 runs scored. They have a 0.64 staff ERA with a .214 opponent batting average and 19Ks. Individually, six Hawks are hitting over .300 led by Brady Weber and Traetow at .500. Weber, Traetow and Harland all have three RBI, and Weber and Henry have four runs scored. This year, Harland and Telfer have pitching wins, Telfer has nine Ks.

This is the season opener for West Branch. They are coming off of a 6-20 year overall, where they finished 4-14, bottom of the RVC. The Bears hit .199 as a team with a .357OBP, and .243 slug with 97 runs scored with a 7.06 team ERA with a .245 opponent batting average and 111 strikeouts. West Branch returns their top eight hitters, led by Max Lodge with a .356 average with 26 total hits and 16RBI. The Bears return four pitchers who threw double digit innings last year with Nolan Staker, Ian Nelson, Connor Rios and Reese Gingerich who combined for a six ERA with 53 Ks.

Mid-Prairie has won four straight in the series including all three against the Bears last year by a combined 22-2 score. You can hear game one of the doubleheader live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Golden Hawk baseball pregame show at 4:30 and first pitch at 5p.m. From Paul N. Bailey Field in Wellman.