The Cedar Rapids Prairie baseball team did not realize its shiny new spot in the Class 4A rankings this week came with a curse.

The Hawks popped into the IHSBCA rankings in the No.8 spot Monday and promptly got rained out Monday night. On Tuesday, they lost 8-0 to North Scott in a hastily scheduled game. And on Friday, the wheels came off the wagon.

Prairie squandered a pair of seemingly comfortable leads Friday and lost a Mississippi Valley Conference twinbill to Dubuque Wahlert, 5-4 in eight innings and 11-9, at the wind-swept Prairie field.

The twin defeats cost Prairie the No.1 seed in the Class 4A substate tournament that begins in three weeks and dearly cost the Hawks in the conference race.

"This was a week to flush. That's all I know," lamented Coach Matt Thede. "I don't know what to say, other than we have to get rid of that and come back ready to go on Monday."

The Xavier Saints swept Waterloo West Friday and claimed the No.1 seed in Class 4A substate No.3. Prairie will get the No.2 seed, which means the Saints and Hawks would play at Xavier instead of Prairie if they meet in the substate finals.

Xavier is 19-9 overall and Prairie is 17-9 overall, and the IHSAA will use those records to determine the substate seedings that will be announced next week.

The No.1 seed is gone and so is Prairie's cushion in the Valley Division race in the Mississippi Valley Conference. The Hawks are clinging to first place in the Valley Division with an 11-5 record, but Xavier and Linn-Mar are just a few percentage points behind at 12-6.

They're all supposed to play 26 games in the MVC, so there's still a lot that can happen.

Thede tried to cheer up his players after the defeats. He made them laugh in the post-game huddle and encouraged them to put the losses behind them as quickly as possible. Forget the No.1 seed, he told them. Let's just play ball again.

"The monkey's off our backs," he said. "Now we can focus on us and play baseball.

"We're playing so tight. They (Wahlert) caught us at a good time. North Scott caught us at a good time. It's the ebb and flow of the season.

"We're not playing our best baseball right now," said Thede. "We're not playing like we had been playing. It's going to come around."

Prairie had a 4-0 lead heading into the sixth inning of the opener with ace Brennan Hammer on the mound, but Wahlert scored twice in the sixth to pull within 4-2.

The Hawks appeared to be in good shape when Hammer retired the first two batters in the seventh inning, but he walked a man on a 3-2 pitch to give Wahlert a chance. The next man singled and Matt Hoffmann belted a two-run double to tie the game.

Wahlert took a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning on a suicide squeeze against Prairie relief pitcher Ty Mougin. The Hawks had runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the eighth but could not score.

Prairie jumped to a 6-1 lead in the nightcap, but Wahlert scored six runs in the fourth inning for a 7-6 lead. The Hawks responded and grabbed a 9-7 edge in the bottom of the fourth, but Wahlert tied the game 9-9 in the fifth.

The visitors scored single runs in the sixth inning and seventh innings and celebrated their sweep of the No.8 team in the state.

Tyler Butz went 4-for-4 for Prairie in the nightcap with two singles, a double, a home run and three RBIs. Ty Mougin was 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs.

Prairie committed eight errors in the second game, according to the unofficial Metro Sports Report scorebook.

GAME 1

WAHLERT (5): Nauman, 2b, 3 1 0 0, Ruden, 1b, 5 1 3 0, Gu.Lange, pr, 0 1 0 0, M.Hoffmann, c, 4 0 1 2, Dittmer, cr, 0 0 0 0, Gasper, p, 3 0 1 0, Gu.Lange, cr, 0 1 0 0, Blair, p, 0 0 0 0, N.Hoffmann, lf, 3 0 1 0, Oglesby, cf, 3 1 1 2, Launspach, rf, 4 0 1 0, Leubka, dh, 3 0 0 1, Wedewer, 3b, 0 0 0 0, Broderick, pr, 0 0 0 0, Walker, ss, 4 0 0 0. Totals 32 5 8 5.

PRAIRIE (4): T.Mougin, ss/p, 3 0 2 1, Hammer, p, 4 0 2 1, Benson, cr, 0 0 0 0, N.Mougin, 3b, 0 0 0 0, Butz, 3b/ss, 3 0 0 0, Votroubek, 1b, 4 0 2 0, Davison, lf, 4 0 1 0, Stallman, cf, 4 1 0 0, Beckman, dh, 3 1 0 0, Day, c, 0 0 0 0, Peters, rf, 3 1 1 2, Becker, 2b, 4 1 2 0. Totals 32 4 10 4.

Wahlert    000 002 21 - 5 8 1
Prairie      000 400 00 - 4 10 2

Gasper, Blair (7) and M.Hoffmann. Hammer, T.Mougin (8) and Day. W - Blair. L - T.Mougin. 2B - Ruden, M.Hoffmann, Votroubek, Peters. SB - N.Hoffmann.

GAME 2

WAHLERT (11): Nauman, 2b/p, 3 2 0 1, Ruden, 1b/2b/lf, 5 1 3 3, M.Hoffmann, c, 3 2 1 0, Dittmer, pr, 0 1 0 0, Gasper,dh, 4 0 3 0, Wedewer, 3b/pr/ss, 0 1 0 0, N.Hoffmann, lf/3b, 4 1 1 2, Oglesby, cf, 4 1 2 2, Gu.Lange, rf, 4 0 1 0, Launspach, ph, 1 0 1 0, Leubka, p/ph, 1 0 1 0, Dittmer, cr, 0 1 0 0, Kunkel, p, 0 0 0, Broderick, pr, 0 0 0 0, Dittmer, ph, 1 0 0 0, Gr.Lange, 2b/1b, 0 0 0 0, Walker, ss/p, 3 1 0 0. Totals 33 11 13 8.

PRAIRIE (9): T.Mougin, ss, 4 2 3 2, Hammer, rf, 4 1 2 0, Butz, 3b, 4 2 4 3, Votroubek, 1b, 3 1 0 0, Davison, lf/p, 2 0 0 0, Peters, lf, 1 0 0 0, Stallman, cf, 3 1 0 0, Beckman, dh/lf, 4 1 1 1, Adams, p, 0 0 0 0, Milks, p, 0 0 0 0, Day, c, 1 0 1 0, Benson, cr, 0 1 0 0, Becker, 2b, 2 0 0 0, N.Mougin, ph, 1 0 0 0. Totals 29 9 11 6.

Wahlert    010 621 1 - 11 13 1
Prairie       240 300 0 -  9 11 8

Leubka, Kunkel (2), Gr.Lange (4), Nauman (4), Walker (7) and M.Hoffmann. Adams, Milks (4), Davison (7) and Day. W - Nauman. L - Milks. 2B - Ruden 2, M.Hoffmann, Hammer, Butz, Beckman. 3B - T.Mougin. HR - N.Hoffmann, Butz. SB - Nauman, Gr.Lange, Walker.