The Cedar Rapids Prairie baseball team split a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader with Iowa City High Friday night and moved closer to clinching the first MVC title in school history.

City High won the first game, 12-2, in six innings. Prairie rebounded in the nightcap, 8-4.

Prairie raised its record in the Mississippi Division of the MVC to 18-4 with the split. Dubuque Hempstead split its doubleheader Friday with Linn-Mar and is 13-7 in the division, giving the Mustangs only a remote chance of catching the Hawks in the 26-game campaign.

Corbin Day went 3-for-3 with a double for Prairie in the 8-4 victory. Cal Clark was 3-for-4. Cooper Reittinger scored two runs and Ethan Copeland had two RBIs. Brody Alberts got the victory and Trey Beckman was credited with a save.

The fifth-ranked Prairie Hawks are 25-5 overall. Iowa City High is 10-10 in the conference and 18-11 overall.

GAME 1

City High      000 129 - 12 8 3
Prairie        002 000 - 2 6 4

W - Frantz. L - Yanecek.

GAME 2

City High      000 400 0 - 4 5 1
Prairie        130 013 x - 8 12 1

W - Alberts. L - McCleary. S - Beckman.