The Linn-Mar Lions are young, talented and tied for first place in the Mississippi Valley Conference after sweeping a doubleheader from the Prairie Hawks Friday night.

The Lions are riding a 10-game winning streak after taking care of the Hawks, 2-1 and 12-3, with strong pitching, timely hitting and good defense at the Linn-Mar field.

Linn-Mar was scuffling along a few weeks ago with a 5-and-6 record, but the Lions are sitting at 15-6 overall now and 10-2 in the MVC heading into Monday night's big doubleheader at Kennedy in a showdown for the league lead.

"We're hitting the ball. Pitching. Playing good defense," assessed Jake Stolley, who tossed six shutout innings in the opener. "It's what works."

The Lions used 14 players in the doubleheader, with nine juniors and five seniors taking the field. That youth could bode well for the future at Linn-Mar.

"It's going to be strong. Next year and the year after that," said Stolley, one of the seniors. "Keep going strong."

Stolley, an impressive lefthander, threw 113 pitches and kept Prairie guessing with a fastball, nasty curveball and changeup. "I'll be sore tomorrow morning, but that's usual," he said after the relatively high pitch count.

Nate Greve pitched the seventh inning and got his second save, although the Hawks made him work for it by scoring an unearned run and putting two more runners on base before he put out the fire.

Greve also made a key defensive play in left field, gunning down Tyler Butz at the plate in the fourth inning when Butz tried to score from third base on a fly ball.

"That was a really big play," said Stolley. "You don't get those every day, but that's awesome."

Stolley (3-1, 1.35 ERA) has struck out 43 batters in 31 innings this season. He plans to join the Northwestern University baseball team as a walk-on this fall and is thinking about studying chemical engineering.

Greve (5-1, 0.97 ERA) has struck out 44 batters in 21 2/3 innings and will be one of the starting pitchers against Kennedy Monday night.

Linn-Mar scored both of its runs in the opener in the third inning on an RBI double by Mitch Stickney and an RBI single by Austin Stroschein. Greve and Kevin Bogert began the rally with one-out singles.

Bryce Alberts pitched well for Prairie in the opener but was the hard-luck loser. The game ended with Prairie's Brayton Carlson called out on a bang-bang force play at second base.

If Carlson had been ruled safe, the Hawks would have had the bases loaded with two outs with Brennan Hammer coming to the plate with a chance to give his club the lead. Hammer was already 2-for-2 in the ballgame with a walk.

Prairie Coach Matt Thede disputed the call at second base, to no avail.

The Lions took control of the nightcap with a six-run outburst in the fourth inning. They nearly ended the game by the 10-run rule when they scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth, but fell a run short of enacting the mercy rule.

Bogert and Jimmy Roth drove in two runs apiece in the nightcap for Linn-Mar. Michael Redmond had two doubles.

Stroschein pitched a complete game for Linn-Mar and collected 10 strikeouts, including three whiffs in the seventh inning, but the junior was called upon to throw 128 pitches (unofficially) in the seven-inning game.

Linn-Mar's 10-game winning streak began on June 4 with a 9-5 victory at Iowa City West in the second game of a doubleheader. Since then, the Lions have defeated Clinton, Cedar Rapids Washington (twice), Muscatine, Fort Madison, Cedar Rapids Jefferson (twice) and now Prairie (twice).

The Lions were delighted to sweep Prairie. "I don't think we were expecting to do that," said Greve.

The Hawks have lost seven of their last 10 games, dropping to 10-10 overall and 6-6 in the conference.

Linn-Mar Coach Chad Lechner said his club has made some adjustments after suffering a few tough losses early in the season. He likes the way the team is playing now.

"We've been hitting. That's what we've been talking about," he said.

Lechner added two former head coaches to his staff this season with Kyle Rodenkirk and Brent Henry now helping the team. Rodenkirk was the head coach at Anamosa and Henry was the interim head coach at Cedar Rapids Washington last year.

"It's been absolutely fantastic," said Lechner. "I've had some good assistants through the years, but this year has really, really clicked. They've taken on a lot of stuff."

Rodenkirk works with the pitchers and catchers, while Henry has been working with the hitters.

"It's been a blast," said Lechner. "I love those guys. They're doing a great job for us."

GAME ONE

PRAIRIE (1)
Velvick, cf, 2 0 2 0, Carlson, 2b, 4 0 2 1, Mougin, ss, 4 0 0 0, Butz, 3b, 4 0 1 0, Hammer, rf, 2 0 2 0, Peters, pr, 0 0 0 0, Alberts, p, 2 0 0 0, Pond, c, 2 0 0 0, Schulte, ph, 1 0 0 0, Votroubek, 1b, 3 1 1 0, Beckman, lf, 3 0 0 0. Totals 27 1 8 1.

LINN-MAR (2)
Greve, lf/p, 3 0 1 0, Wyant, ph, 1 0 0 0, Bogert, cf/rf, 3 1 1 0, Redmond, 2b/cf, 2 1 0 0, Stickney, rf/lf, 2 0 1 1, Stroschein, 3b, 3 0 1 1, Banks,c, 1 0 0 0, Kvach, cr, 0 0 0 0, Stolley, p, 3 0 1 0, Bettman, cr, 0 0 0 0, Kvach, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Strellner, ss, 2 0 1 0, Blackford, 1b, 2 0 0 0. Totals 22 2 6 2.

Prairie        000 000 1 - 1 8 0
Linn-Mar    002 000 x - 2 6 2

Alberts and Pond. Stolley, Greve (7) and Banks. W - Stolley (3-1). L - Alberts (1-3). S - Greve (2). 2B - Votroubek, Stickney, Stolley. SB - Velvick, Carlson, Hammer, Stickney.

GAME TWO

PRAIRIE (3)
Velvick, cf, 3 1 2 0, Carlson, 2b, 2 1 2 1, Mougin, ss, 2 0 0 0, Butz, 3b, 4 0 0 0, Hammer, rf, 3 0 2 1, Votroubek, 1b, 3 0 1 0, Alberts, lf, 3 0 0 0, Pond, c, 3 0 0 0, Davison, dh/p, 3 1 0 0, Adams, p, 0 0 0 0, Dean, p, 0 0 0 0, Steffens, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 26 3 7 2.

LINN-MAR (12)
Greve, lf, 5 1 1 1, Bogert, cf, 4 2 2 2, Redmond, 2b, 4 1 2 0, Stickney, rf, 1 2 0 0, Stroschein, p, 1 0 0 1, Mortensen, cr, 0 1 0 0, Banks, c, 2 0 0 0, Kvach, cr, 0 1 0 0, Stolley, dh, 3 1 2 1, Strellner, ss, 0 0 0 0, Roth, 1b, 2 2 0 2, Wyant, 3b, 4 1 2 1. Totals 26 12 9 8.

Prairie       200 010 0 -  3  7 4
Linn-Mar    010 614 x - 12 9 1

Adams, Dean (4), Davison (6), Steffens (6) and Pond. Stroschein and Banks. W - Stroschein (2-0). L - Adams (1-3). 2B - Carlson, Bogert, Redmond 2. SB - Velvick, Carlson 2.