The fourth-ranked Mules ran their winning streak to 12 games with a conference doubleheader sweep of Southwest Baptist on Tuesday afternoon at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field on the UCM Campus in Warrensburg, Missouri. The Mules held off SBU 4-3 in the opener before taking a 10-0 run-rule win in the nightcap.

The Mules (29-5, 24-4 MIAA) scored a single run in the first inning of the opener to take a 1-0 lead. Gabe Thibodeau scored an unearned run on a throwing error by the SBU shortstop to give UCM the early advantage.

The Bearcats (16-17-1, 11-13 MIAA) tied the game in the third when Drew Miller singled home Tyler Christophel. Southwest Baptist then took the lead in the fourth on an RBI single by Landon Young.

Central Missouri responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs to regain the lead 3-2. Kevin Gratza scored on a wild pitch to tie the game and Chase Graskewicz scored on a Jon Cotter groundout to put the Mules back in front.

UCM added an insurance run in the sixth when Graskewicz scored on Cotter's infield single to make it 4-2. The Bearcats rallied for one run in the top of the seventh to pull within one, but they stranded two runners on base to end the game.

Adam Maddox (2-0) earned the win in relief for UCM. He allowed just two hits in 2.1 innings with four strikeouts. Jordan Coons recorded the final two outs of the game for his fifth save of the season.

Game two was scoreless through 2.5 innings before the Mules jumped on the Bearcats for four runs in the bottom of the third. Cotter had an RBI single to get UCM on the board and later scored on Coons' single to left. John Oropeza had an RBI double and later scored on a double from Albert Selanders.

The Mules plated a single run in the fourth on Thibodeau's sacrifice bunt and two more in the fifth on a Graskewicz single to make it 7-0.

Central Missouri finished things off with three runs in the seventh for the 10-0 run-rule win. Selanders had an RBI groundout to make it 8-0 and Graskewicz had a sacrifice fly to plate Coons making it 9-0. On the relay throw back to the infield the ball got away and rolled into the UCM dugout allowing Oropeza to score the 10th run of the game.

Jason Bell (1-0) tossed six shutout innings to get the win. He scattered six hits and struck out two. Aaron Baker tossed a perfect seventh inning in relief.

Graskewicz finished the day 3-for-6 with two RBI and two runs scored. Bret Schwartz collected one hit on the day and moved into sole possession of second place on Central Missouri's all-time hits list with 276.

With the pair of wins UCM improved to 21-3 when scoring first and 13-1 when scoring in the first inning of games.

The Mules are back in action this weekend hosting Lindenwood in a four-game series. The series gets underway on Friday with a single nine-inning game at 3 p.m.