WICHITA FALLS, Texas - No. 4 Southeastern Oklahoma State used three long balls to power past Midwestern State 5-2 in Game 1 in Lone Star Conference Division play Tuesday afternoon at Mustangs Park.

Bailey Mathes launched a solo shot in the first inning while Benita Sanchez blasted two more homers as the Savage Storm claimed their ninth-straight win to improve to 43-7 on the season and 14-1 in division play.

But Midwestern State which dropped its fourth-straight decision to fall to 23-14 and9-8 didn't go down without a fight.

The Mustangs scrapped for a season-best four hits against SOSU ace Marjorie Johnson, who had allowed four hits just two other times this season as East Central and Arkansas Tech also had four hits on March 7th and 24th, respectively.

Mallory Mooney led off the second inning with a double down the left line, but MSU was unable to push the freshman third baseman to the plate as Johnson fanned Alyson Reynolds and induced Katie Petersen to ground out to second base after Mooney moved to third on a ground by Lauren Craig.

Johnson struggled with her command in the late innings, but the senior right-hander was able to offset eight walks with a 13-strikeout performance to improve to 20-1 on the season.

The Savage Storm pushed the lead to 3-0 in the sixth inning as Sanchez blasted her sixth homer of the season to lead off the frame before Mathes scored on an MSU error.

The Mustangs pushed across a run in the bottom of the inning as Johnson issued four-straight two-out walks to pull MSU to within 3-1.

Sanchez again provided Southeastern with more insurance with a two-run blast in the seventh.

Sarah Weary, who went 2-for-3 at the plate, led off the inning with a single to left field, advanced to second on a wild pitch before moving to third on a groundout. Weary then scored on Johnson's third wild pitch of the game, but that was all the Mustangs could muster.

Junior pitcher Katie Petersen was saddled with the loss to fall to 11-5 on the season. The junior surrendered five runs - four earned - on nine hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk.