Tulsa Sweeps Doubleheader Against Southern Miss

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane extended its win streak to five games Saturday, sweeping a doubleheader against the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, 13-8 and 6-1.

In the first game, Tulsa relied on its offense and capitalized on Southern Miss miscues to close it out.

After two scoreless innings, the Golden Hurricane (20-6, 6-1) cracked it open in the top of the third. With the bases loaded and no outs on the board, Lacey Middlebrooks doubled to right center, bringing Skylar Swanson, Samantha Cobb and Jill Barrett home to take a three-run lead.

Southern Miss closed the gap to one run in the bottom of the third, but Tulsa managed to put space with another three-run inning. With two on and two out, Cobb doubled to left field, bringing Caitlin Everett and Cierra Hughes home to take a 5-2 advantage. Swanson followed with a single to center field to bring Cobb home and push the lead to four runs.

A sacrifice fly from Swanson and an RBI double from Middlebrooks in the top of the sixth pushed the Tulsa lead to 8-2. Southern Miss tagged on four unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth, cutting the deficit back to just two runs.

However, Southern Miss struggled in the seventh, giving up runs on a fielder's choice, back-to-back walks, a sacrifice fly and finally an RBI single to cap things off and put the Golden Hurricane at 13 runs.

In the second game, Lacey Middlebrooks dominated the action, pitching a complete game, giving up just one hit in the first six innings. She finished with three hits and one earned run, striking out eight of the 26 batter she faced.

Her only earned run of the game came in the bottom of the seventh, a one-out ground out, allowing Brittany Lilly to score from third. However, Middlebrooks struck out the next batter to end the game.

The Golden Hurricane will try to cap off the series sweep at 1 p.m. Sunday, trying to grab their eighth conference win of the year.