The new boss, is the same as the old boss in the River Valley Conference South Division. Monday night, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team split a home RVC doubleheader with the Durant Wildcats. Coupling that outcome with a West Branch split with the Wilton Beavers at the same time, the Hawks have a share of the River Valley South Division title for the second straight season. The Wildcats made the Hawks work for the hardware, winning game one in extras 8-6. Durant got three runs in the second for an early advantage and Mid-Prairie clawed back with single tallies in the second, third and fourth innings to draw even. A Wildcat run in the fifth made it 4-3 Durant, before a Mid-Prairie three spot in the sixth put them back in front 6-4. Durant, down to their final three outs, found two runs to tie in the seventh, and won it in extras with two more in the ninth. The Wildcats out hit the Hawks 14-9, each team drew four walks and Mid-Prairie committed two errors. Colby Gast, Cohen Kilker and Kaden Sickles all drove in two for Durant. Collier Rockow went five innings with six hits, three earned runs and two strikeouts to get the win. Golden Hawk leaders included Brock Harland with two RBI, Tatem Telfer, Brady Weber and Luke Traetow each had one. Telfer finished with three hits and two runs scored. Harland went five innings in the start with five hits, four earned runs, four walks and 5Ks with Carson Pence taking the loss in one inning of relief.

The nightcap was a big bounce back for the Hawks, dominating Durant 10-0 in five innings. The Hawks batted around in the second to score three and did the same in the fourth, scoring five more times. Mid-Prairie added two runs in the fifth to finish the game early. The Hawks out hit the Wildcats 12-1 with three knocks for extra bases. Telfer drove in three on two hits with a run. Dylan Henry and Harland each had two RBI, with Henry’s coming on a triple where he would later come around to score. Harland’s runs driven in ended the game in the fifth. He spoke with KCII Sports about that at bat and his team’s approach at the plate.

Harland said, “Second game it was about attacking the fastball early. Coach Mullet had us go straight into our two-strike approach and I think that worked well for us. We put a lot of balls in play which put pressure on the defense. Night’s like this build confidence in each other and ourselves. I think that’s what we need this time of year, especially going toward playoffs. (In the last at-bat) I made sure I stayed relaxed there because we have the lead. I got my pitch and put a good swing on it.”

Landry Gingerich added a pair of RBI hits. Grayson Gingerich and Brooks Weber each scored twice. Brady Weber out hit the Wildcats himself, putting up two hits at the plate, and giving up just one hit to Durant from the mound, a first inning two out single, before he sat down 13 straight to seal the win, striking out six across five innings. Weber spoke live on the KCII Sports Postgame Show about his outing.

Weber said, “(Durant) is a very good fastball hitting team. Brock (Harland) did a great job calling the game behind the plate. My team made great plays behind me on defense. I think we fielded amazing tonight and Coach Mullet called a great set of signs from the dugout to put me in a successful spot. This is a big confidence booster. The dugout and coaches brought a lot of energy. I think that was great tonight. Guys played hard and we really competed well!”

After the split, the Hawks are 17-8 on the year, 13-5 in conference with a piece of the River Valley South title in hand. Durant is 15-12, 8-9 in conference. Mid-Prairie will do some scoreboard watching the rest of the week to see if they have to share the divisional title. The Hawks are tied with West Branch in the loss column, while the Bears still have four games left to play. A slip-up by West Branch in any of those remaining conference games gives this Hawks the division outright.