WICHITA FALLS, Texas - No. 4 Midwestern State scratched out just enough runs and rode the arms of Katie Petersen and Brittney Tanner to a Lone Star Conference North Division doubleheader sweep of Northeastern State Saturday afternoon at Mustangs Park.

With the two 2-1 wins, MSU set a program record for victories in a season as the Mustangs improved to 46-6, while completing LSC North Division play with a 20-2 mark.

Midwestern had already clinched its third outright division title earlier in the week as the Mustangs also split a championship with Southeastern Oklahoma in 2006.

MSU closes the regular season with a pair of non-conference games against Angelo State Saturday afternoon at Mustangs Park. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

Petersen, a senior from Plano, won her 21st-straight decision after allowing a run on five hits in the opener as she claimed her 88th career win and is now four shy of the LSC record of 92 set by former MSU standout Brittany Willson (2002, 03-06) and Southeastern Oklahoma's Christian Cearley (2003-06).

The Mustangs used the combination of freshman shortstop Natalie Rodriguez and sophomore third baseman Mallory Mooney to plate each of the runs.

Rodriguez reached on an error in the first and was sacrificed third before Mooney delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead against Northeastern State Lacee Craig, who fell to 3-15 despite limiting the Mustangs to an earned run on five hits in the complete game effort.

Rodriguez led off the sixth with single to right field, stole second and advanced to third on Elena Bennett's infield single before Mooney sent another sacrifice - this one to right field - to give MSU a 2-0 lead.

The run turned out to be the difference after Sydney Chapin launched a leadoff double to center field and came around to score on Kylie Morton's RBI single to center field as Petersen came within an out of her 30th career shutout.

The Mustangs found itself in another pitchers' duel in the second game, but Tanner proved up to the task as she carried a one-hitter and had faced the minimum going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Senior catcher Lauren Craig had given her battery mate a 1-0 lead when her single to center field drove in Rodriguez in the bottom of the fifth inning.

But the RiverHawks wouldn't go quietly as Courtney Baker looped a leadoff single to left field and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on Shelbi Bowin two-out single to left field to tie the game at 1-1.

Tanner, who also came within one out of her fifth shutout of the season, improved to 17-2 while allowing a run on three hits while fanning eight and walking none, but the victory required some walk-off heroics from her teammates in the bottom of the seventh.

Rodriguez led off the inning by roping a double to the left-field gap, and then moved to third on Elena Bennett's sacrifice bunt before scoring on Courtney Bingham's sacrifice fly to center field.

Northeastern State dropped to 15-33 on the season and 6-14 in the LSC North.

Notables

• Midwestern State matched a program record with its 14th-straight win with the doubleheader sweep of Northeastern State. The Mustangs also won 14-straight games from Feb. 25-March 15 earlier this season. MSU has won 38 of its last 41 games.
• Midwestern State improved to 23-3 all time against Northeastern State and has won the last nine games against the RiverHawks.
• The Mustangs improved to 16-2 this season in one-run games as seven of those have come in MSU's current 14-game winning streak.
• MSU senior pitcher Katie Petersen posted seven strikeouts in Game 1 and now has 823 career strikeouts.
• MSU junior pitcher Brittney Tanner improved to 7-0 in the month of April.
• Redshirt-freshman Courtney Bingham extended her season-best hitting streak to 10 games with a single to right field in the third inning of Game 2. She is hitting .448 during the streak which dates back to March 26 against Angelo State. Bingham, who has missed 14 games due to injury, did not play in Game 1.
• Sophomore Mallory Mooney became the fifth player in program history to record two sacrifice flies in the same game during the first contest Saturday. It was her team-best 10th multiple-RBI game of the season.
• Freshman outfielder Elena Bennett stole her 21st base of the season in the sixth inning of Game 1. Former standout catcher Lindsey Voigt holds MSU's single-season record with 22 set in 2008.