MASON CITY - Peyton Long and the Kirkwood Eagles are coming back from a cold, wet weekend in Mason City with a chance to win the ICCAC conference title in Cedar Rapids this week.

Long sparkled on the mound Saturday as the Eagles topped NIACC, 10-2, in the first game of a league doubleheader.

Long tossed a complete game and allowed two earned runs on five hits, with 10 strikeouts and three walks. The freshman from Des Moines raised his record to 6-1, giving him the most wins on the staff.

NIACC won the second game, 10-6.

The split left Kirkwood with a 13-7 record in the conference, good for a virtual tie for first place with Southeastern in the compact league standings.

Southeastern leads the race by percentage points with a 12-6 record heading into a doubleheader with DMACC on Sunday. Kirkwood will be hosting Southeastern in a four-game series this Friday and Saturday in what could be a showdown for the title, but three other teams are still in the hunt as well.

NIACC (12-8), Iowa Central (12-8) and DMACC (13-9) are all just one game behind Southeastern and Kirkwood in the 24-game season.

Cal Clark, a freshman from Cedar Rapids Prairie, belted a grand slam in the seventh inning of the opener to secure the victory. Korry Howell was 4-for-4 and drove in three runs in the leadoff spot. Ross Kramer went 2-for-4 with two doubles and Clark also had two hits.

NIACC grabbed a 10-1 lead after four innings of the nightcap and held on for the 10-6 victory. Kirkwood starter Austin Miller (4-4) lasted only three innings and gave up seven runs.

Colin Kreiter and Spencer Wiskus hit home runs for the Eagles in the second game. Kreiter was 2-for-5 with three RBIs and Wiskus was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Kramer continued his hot hitting and was 3-for-5 with another double.

The split left Kirkwood at 31-14 overall and NIACC at 31-16.

GAME 1

Kirkwood    121 101 4 - 10 13 0
NIACC       020 000 0 - 2 5 1

W - Long. L - Chirpich.

GAME 2

Kirkwood    001 031 010 - 6 10 1
NIACC       051 400 00x - 10 10 0

W - Huntington. L - Miller.