DURANT, Okla. - Lauren Craig belted a three-run homer in the first inning and added an RBI-single in the third to spearhead a strong early rally as No. 5 Midwestern State held on for a 9-5 Lone Star Conference North Division win over Southeastern Oklahoma State Tuesday afternoon at the SOSU Softball Field.

Senior pitcher Katie Petersen pitched four scoreless innings of three-hit ball before exiting in the fifth inning to win her 19th-straight decision and improve to 20-2 on the season. She went over the 800 career strikeout mark by recording five, while walking none.

The win was the ninth-straight for Midwestern which improved to 41-6 on the season and 15-2 against the LSC North.

Kristina Gutierrez allowed two earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and a walk to earn her first save of the season.

The Mustangs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first when Nicki Duff drew a leadoff wlak and Elena Bennett reached on a bunt single before Craig launched a three-run shot over the left-field wall.

Bennett beat out another bunt single in the third inning and came around to score on Craig's run-scoring through the left side to push the MSU advantage to 4-0 in the fourth inning.

The Mustangs tallied five unearned runs in the fourth inning keyed by Brittney Tanner's RBI double to the left-field gap while Alyson Reynolds and Petersen added run-scoring single to push the lead to 9-0.

Southeastern took advantage of four MSU errors to plate two runs in the fifth and sixth innings and another in the seventh.

The Savage Storm evented their season mark at 20-20 and dropped to 5-6 in division play.