Waterloo West entered Monday night's Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader against Prairie with zero league victories in its first seven chances.

That drought ended as the Wahawks and Prairie Hawks split a high-scoring twinbill at Prairie.

Waterloo West won the first game, 18-8. Prairie rebounded and captured the nightcap, 9-6.

The first game was a slugfest from the opening pitch. The Wahawks sent 11 men to the plate in the first inning and scored seven times on five hits. Prairie starter Bryce Alberts lasted only nine batters and recorded just one out while giving up seven earned runs.

The Hawks (10-8, 6-4) fought back with four runs in the second, but gave three back in the top of the fourth to make the score 10-4. Prairie scratched out four more runs in the bottom half of the fourth to get within two, 10-8.

That would be as close as the Hawks would get. They lost the opener by virtue of the 10-run rule in six innings. Waterloo West finished with 17 hits in game one as every one of its nine starters recorded a safety.

“When a team pours out 17 hits there is not much you can do, with the exception of hoping they hit it right to you,” said Prairie Coach Matt Thede.

Game two was a different story for the Hawks. Waterloo West jumped on the board for a 2-0 lead, but the Hawks unloaded in the third with seven runs on five hits. The Hawks had four consecutive two-out, run-scoring hits by Tyler Butz, Trey Beckman, Alberts and Tyler Votroubek.

Brennan Hammer was not as sharp as he had been in previous outings but he was good enough to get the win, going 5 2/3 innings and giving up three earned runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts.

Alberts, the game-one starter, was asked to close the nightcap and came into a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the top of the seventh with the Hawks clinging to a 9-6 lead. He promptly got Wahawk first basemen Matt Ohrt to ground into the 4-6-3 game-ending double-play.

When asked about the difference between game one and game two for the Hawks, Alberts said, “I think it is just lack of focus. We are all mature kids but we need to grow up as a team, and regain that focus, and just play baseball.”

GAME 1

WATERLOO WEST (18)
Brown, cf, 4 2 1 0, Kullen, rf, 5 3 3 1, Vaughn, p/ss, 4 2 2 0, Fricke, c, 3 4 2 4, Ohrt, 1b, 5 1 2 3, Jenkins, 3b, 3 2 2 3, Evans, lf, 5 1 2 3, Price, dh, 4 1 2 2, Medina, 2b, 0 0 0 0, McClain, ss/2b, 2 2 1 2. Totals 35 18 17 18.

PRAIRIE (8)
Velvick, cf, 4 2 2 1, Mougin, ss, 2 2 0 0, Hammer, rf, 2 1 1 2, Butz, 3b, 2 1 0 2, Votroubek, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Peters, 1b, 1 0 0 0, Carlson, 2b, 4 1 3 0, Beckman, lf, 3 0 0 0, Pond, c, 2 0 0 0, Alberts, p, 0 0 0 0, Steffens, p, 2 0 0 1. Totals 25 8 6 6.

Waterloo West     700 362 – 18 17
Prairie                  040 400 –  8   6

Vaughn, Jenkins (4) and Fricke. Alberts, Steffens (1), Henry (5) and Pond. W - Vaughn. L - Alberts. 2B - Price (2), Fricke, Kullen, Velvick. 3B-Vaughn. HR - Fricke.

GAME 2

WATERLOO WEST (6)
Brown, cf, 3 0 0 0, Kullen, rf/p, 4 2 1 0, Vaughn, ss, 3 3 3 2, Fricke, p, 3 0 1 1, Ohrt, 1b, 4 0 1 1, Jenkins, c, 3 0 0 0, Evans, lf, 2 0 0 0, Price, dh, 3 0 1 0, Heyerhoff, 3b, 0 0 0 0, McClain, 2b, 2 0 0 0. Totals 27 6 7 4.

PRAIRIE (9)
Velvick, cf, 3 1 2 1, Carlson, 2b, 3 1 1 0, Mougin, ss, 2 1 1 0, Hammer, p, 3 0 0 0, Adams, p, 1 0 0 0, Butz, c, 2 2 2 1, Dean, c, 0 0 0 0, Beckman, dh, 2 1 1 1, Davison, lf, 2 0 0 0, Alberts, 3b/lf/p, 3 2 2 2, Votroubek, 1b, 2 1 1 2, Schulte, rf, 3 0 0 0. Totals 26 9 10 7.

Waterloo West     200 103 0 – 6  7
Prairie                  007 020 x - 9 10

Fricke, Kullen (6) and Jenkins. Hammer, Adams (6), Alberts (7) and Butz. W - Hammer. L - Fricke. S - Alberts. 2B - Kullen, Vaughn (3), Beckman, Velvick, Butz.