WICHITA FALLS, Texas - McKenzie Sickler capped a four-run, fourth inning explosion with her sixth home run of the season as No. 3 Midwestern State rolled to a 10-1 run-rule win over Incarnate Word in Game 1 Thursday afternoon at Mustangs Park.

The Mustangs (32-5) jumped on UIW starter Lea Padilla for 10 earned runs with two in the first, one in the second and four in the third inning on their way their fifth run-rule victory of the season.

Senior pitcher Katie Petersen moved to 16-2 after winning her 15th-straight decision. The Plano product allowed a one-out double when Melissa Padilla drilled a one-out double off of the center field fence in the second inning.

Lauren Craig put the Mustangs on the board and extended her current hitting streak to seven games with a run-scoring single to left field in the first inning, while junior first baseman Alyson Reynolds drove her in with a solid single to center field to push the lead to 2-0.

The Mustangs continued to attack in the second inning as Sickler led off the frame with single to center before scoring on Natalie Rodriguez's double to the left gap to give MSU a 3-0 advantage.

Incarnate Word cut into the lead with an unearned run in the top of the third as Serena Smitham reached and moved to second on an error before stealing third base.

The Cardinals pulled within 3-1 when Michelle Luna scored Smitham with a fielder's choice.

That would be all Petersen would allow as she fanned six batters in four innings before giving way to Kristina Gutierrez, who worked a scoreless fifth.

The Mustangs put the game away with four-straight hits in the bottom of the third.

Nicki Duff legged out an infield single and Reynolds dribbled a single through the left side of the infield to give MSU a no-out, runners on the corners situation for Brittney Tanner, who drilled a run scoring double to the left-field gap to give the Mustangs a 4-1 edge.

Sickler followed with a towering three-run blast to center field to score Reynolds and Tanner.

The Mustangs closed out the scoring with a three-run fourth inning keyed by Duff's RBI-double to the right-field gap before Tanner drove in two more with a single to left field.

Duff (2-for-3, 1 RBI, 2 runs), Reynolds (2-for-2, 1 RBI, 1 run), Tanner (2-for-3, 3 RBIs, 1 run) and Sickler (2-for-3, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) combined for eight of MSU's 11 hits from the Nos. 6-9 spots in the lineup.

Incarnate Word slipped to 19-17 on the season.